The Fateful XIII
by Xelskyr
Summary: It's been a little over twenty years since Sora and Riku defeated Organization XIII. Sora and Kairi now have a son, Roxas, and when he and his best friend Hikari meet a new group of Nobodies, they find that someone might be trying to start another war.
1. Chapter 1: Tending to Business

The Fateful XIII

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 1

Tending to business

**Disclaimer: **I would like anyone out there who has the power to file a lawsuit against me to know that i own nothing but my OC's, the keyblades i made up, and the techniques i invented for said OC's. Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix, and any mentioned Disney worlds and characters obviously belong to Disney.

* * *

In the waning hours of the day, three kids were laxly sitting on the Paopu fruit tree. It was sunset on Destiny Islands and Roxas, Namine, and Hikari were enjoying the sound of the waves against the shore and the warm breeze as the sun met the waters in the last hours of the day. Roxas and Namine, promptly named after their parents respective Nobodies, were the children of Sora and Kairi, while Hikari was the daughter of Riku and Selphie. Hikari was leaning her back against the trunk of the tree, while Roxas sat upon it a little to her right. Namine was sitting in her big brothers lap enjoying the time with her two favorite people, (besides her parents of course). It was roughly eight o'clock and Namine, being only seven, was getting tired.

"What's the matter Nami, tired already?" Roxas teased with his fathers' goofy grin and ruffling her auburn-red hair.

"No! I can go all night!" she shouted in protest. Of course right after her confident statement she let out a long yawn.

He sighed and set her down on the ground before getting up himself. "Alright come on, mom's gonna get all over me about letting you stay out too late as it is, let's get going."

"Aw, please," she whined with a sappy expression on her face.

Now, anyone who's met Namine knows she inherited one crucial trait from her mother, and that's her ability to deliver one hell of a 'sad puppy dog pout' face. Fortunately for Roxas, being her big brother, he'd developed immunity to such tricks. If only his father were so lucky.

He laughed and ruffled her hair again. "You know that doesn't work on me sis, so give up."

"Fine," she pouted.

With that he picked her up and carried her piggy-back style off the tree.

He turned his attention to his silver haired friend. "You want a ride back to the island Hikari?"

"Sure."

"Aright, but for extra fun, lets have one last race."

"Yea, I'm game!"

They both immediately took their racing stances, looking straight down the wooden bridge. With a spirit of competition between the two like their fathers, neither of them would ever back down from a challenge issued by the other. Unlike the competitions between Sora and Riku however, Roxas, more often than not, beat Hikari.

"Nami, countdown if you please!" said Roxas.

Of course she happily complied.

"3, 2, 1, GO!"

A moment later they shot down the rickety bridge, past the palm tree, and jumped down onto the beach. It was a complete straight away down the shores to the docks where both their boats were tied up. Roxas, even though his sister was weighing him down, was still ahead of Hikari by several feet. Ever since he'd become a keyblade wielder, he'd been keeping in shape more, and it showed. Even so, Roxas had always been faster, there was no contest between them, and Hikari only agreed to the races because it was fun.

In less than a minute, the race was over and of course, Roxas was the victor.

He pumped his fist into the air and cheered. "Oh yea, it's now Roxas fifty three, and Hikari zip!"

"Yea, yea, don't get cocky," she said trying to act like she didn't care. In truth she was getting quite frustrated with her constant losing streak.

"Oh, just suck it up and hop aboard," teased Roxas, already sitting in the boat.

Hikari couldn't help but smile as she jumped aboard and pushed the small boat off the dock, rowing their way home for the night.

* * *

Sora was also enjoying his late evening; sitting back in his living room reading a book of all things. Years ago he wouldn't have dreamed of even looking at a book, but after being Kairi's boyfriend, and eventually her husband, for years, she kind of rubbed off on him. He found that he actually liked reading when it was about a subject he was familiar with and interested in, and he took an affinity to fantasy novels. He would always like to compare his enemies and adventures to the book, wondering how he would've handled the situations the characters were in.

He was actually even considering turning his journey into a book he could try and get published. He'd have to rework a few details so he wouldn't technically be breaking any of the 'Order of the Worlds' rules, but he thought he could make it work. It was definitely something to consider, but these thoughts were interrupted when he heard his name being called.

"Sora…Sora!"

He recognized Kairi's voice as it called him from the next room.

"Yea?" he replied, still focusing on his book.

"Are Roxas and Namine back yet?"

"Nope! Did you want me to go look for them, because they're probably just over on the island?"

"No, no, they'll be back soon."

She was now emerging from the next room, heading for the couch he was currently sitting on. He had to say, through the twenty years after the whole Organization fiasco, Kairi had changed a great deal.

Right off the bat, she was much stronger than she used to be. She was completely dedicated to being able to defend herself after he and Riku had gotten home, and she trained with the keyblade Riku gave her non-stop. Of course she was also a bit of a worry wart now. Hell, when Roxas first discovered he could use the keyblade she practically had a seizure and a panic attack at the same time.

She looked different to. She had changed her hair back to the short style she had before they were separated. She had obviously gotten much taller and looked much more mature, but if you asked him, he'd tell you she hadn't aged a day since Roxas was born. Most people would agree to.

"He'll be hungry soon, so he'll be dragging them both home soon eno-."

She was suddenly cut off, she even stopped moving mid-step and everything; it was like time had stopped. The clouds were still moving in the sky, and the wind was still blowing against the leaves, but Kairi seemed frozen solid, something was defiantly up.

Then he heard the familiar sound of a portal of darkness opening behind him, followed by a young mans voice.

"Man, oh man, do you have any idea how hard it is to find you, I mean come on!" came the voice as the portal disappeared. The voice belonged to a dark figure in what looked like an Organization coat. There were however, some distinct differences.

For one, there were strange emblems on each shoulder, and the sleeves of the coat were white, while the rest was completely black like a regular Organization coat. Another difference he notices was that his gloves and boots had a checker pattern consisting of white and black. Other than that, it looked like a standard Organization XIII cloak, which was enough to cause alarm.

Sora wasted no time in jumping up to face the sudden arrival. "Who are you, how can you use those corridors, and what have you done?"

The figure gave a short outburst of laughter before answering. "Wait, you're telling me the great hero of the keyblade can't even recognize a Nobody when he sees one? Then again, maybe I've got the wrong person."

Sora quickly materialized the kingdom key in his hand and got into his fighting stance.

"Does that answer your question kid?"

"More or less, but I'm still not convinced." Then he snapped his fingers. "I know, why don't I give you a little trial run!"

"What?"

He only laughed quietly as he snapped his fingers again, and six Dusks appeared around him. Only a second after they appeared however, they disappeared again, defeated. Meanwhile, Sora already had his blade to the hooded boys' throat.

"Hn, looks like you _are_ as good as those guys in Radiant Garden said."

"Huh? Guys in…Radiant Garden?" he asked, now more interested than cautious.

"Yea, I talked to a few people there who said they knew you."

"Well…what did they look like?"

"One guy had a gun blade, another was a super old mechanic, oh, and some blond guy with a huge ass sword!"

"Leon, Cid, and Cloud," he murmured to himself.

That definitely surprised him, why would Leon and the guys give him away to someone who had just attacked him. There was always the possibility this guy was in disguise when he had gotten that information, but he would never really know. All he knew for sure is that if they _did _know that this guy was a Nobody, they must have had some good reason for letting him in on his location.

"Well anyway, they're the ones who pointed me in your direction. They were a bit cautious around me at first, but once I explained our situation, they were happy to help."

Sora cocked an eyebrow at this.

"_Our_ situation?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yes; you, along with me and my organization, are going to be on quite a job."

Sora just snorted. "If you're asking for my help, the answer is no."

It took him a second to absorb what the man in front of him just said…had he just refused?

"Wait…what?"

Sora only smirked. "I guess Leon and the others failed to mention Riku and I gave up on being heroes a long time ago."

He definitely wasn't expecting that. "W-who else am I going to go to I can't get you to help us?"

Just then he heard a door down the hallway close and footsteps making their way to the living room.

"Hey dad, we're home!" came a voice from down the hall.

The hooded figure turned to the source of the voice. He was staring at a young boy, a bit younger than him, with spiky brown hair like Sora's. He wore a white jacket, a black undershirt, and some white cargo pants, as well as an identical crown necklace and chain as his fathers. A young girl was hanging from his back. She had long red hair and deep blue eyes, and she looked half asleep. She was wearing a small pink dress and white shoes, along with a few string bracelets.

"There's always him," he said plopping back on the couch and going back to his book.

Roxas, meanwhile, was trying to absorb the scene in front of him. "Dad, who is this guy and what's wrong with mom?"

The hooded figure just bonked himself on the side of his head with his palm. "Oh right, I almost forgot about her."

With another snap of the fingers, time seemed to just start back up again and Kairi finished her sentence. Then she seemed to realize that suddenly Sora had changed positions on the couch, and the hooded figure in her house. The coat conjured up bad memories of the events twenty years prior. It wasn't generally a sight she welcomed, especially not in her own home.

"Sora, who is that?" she said backing away slowly, half wanting to summon her keyblade, and half wanting to just stay put.

He just hit his head with his palm again. "I'm sorry, where _are _my manners?"

He took his hood in both hands and pulled it back, revealing a young boy -a teenager- with flat, dark brown hair reaching down to his shoulders.

"The names Xelskyr, a pleasure. No need to introduce yourselves, I already know who you all are. Well, half of you actually, I don't know those two," he said motioning towards Roxas and Namine.

"I'm Roxas and this is my sister Namine," said the kid.

"I see, so how is he going to be of any use, he's just a kid?"

"That kid, is also a keyblade master, he can help you with whatever you're doing. Of course before he does, I would very much like to know what _exactly_ you're trying to do."

Xelskyr only sighed and stared up at the ceiling. This was definitely not going how he envisioned. Of course, nothing really ever did go how he envisioned.

"You might want to sit down, this'll take a while."

* * *

**There ya go, my first chapter. I'll upload more in detail bio's for my main characters right after this, so you can get to know them a little better. I hope you enjoyed it, i've got a few chapters already done and will update as much as my schedule and my extremely annoying ADD will allow. Please keep in mind this is my first fic, and i just want to get off on the right foot, so if anyone has any advice, i'd appreciate it. Review please!**


	2. Main character Bio: part 1

**Fateful XIII Bio**

**Main Characters Part 1**

-**Roxas**

**Age:** 14

**Eyes: **Blue

**Height: **5'7

**Hair:** light brown (spiky)

**Weapon:** Oathkeeper keyblade

**Techniques:** Sonic Blade, Ars Arcanum, Strike Raid, Omnislash- (has yet to successfully finish)

**Family:** Father- Sora Mother- Kairi Sister- Namine

Roxas is Sora's son, and is named after his father's Nobody. He's just recently taken up his father's mantle by becoming the new keyblade master. While Nobodies and Heartless are at an all time low, they still do exist, left over from Sora's endeavors against Organization XIII. He's confident and goofy like his father, but at the same time, has his mother's level headedness and isn't above analyzing a situation before leaping in. Even as a keyblader, his life is extremely calm due to the lack of enemies against him.

The King was kind enough to supply them with a gummi ship, and occasional heartless sighting is all he really has to deal with. His father has no problems with his small quests, but his mother is another story, and constantly harps over him before and after his battles. His sister Namine, who was promptly named after their mothers Nobody, is seven years younger than him and is inseparable from him. She always whines when he goes away to fight heartless because she loves to play with him and her only other friend is Hikari, Riku's daughter.

Roxas has met Leon and the gang a few times, as well as Donald, Goofy, and the King. He idealizes Cloud a bit, and has made attempts to master his Omnislash technique. As of yet, it hasn't worked out very well. Overall Roxas is a good Keyblade master, but his skills are about to be put to the test, when he teams up with a strange group of Nobodies.

* * *

-**Namine**

**Age:** 7

**Eyes:** blue

**Height:** 4'2

**Hair:** deep Auburn (waist length)

**Weapon:** none

**Techniques:** none

**Family:** Father- Sora Mother- Kairi Brother- Roxas

Namine is named after her mothers Nobody, just as her brother is named after their fathers. She is young and has a bubbly personality, but has her mother's demanding and bossy tendencies. She inherited her father's sense of justice and lack of attentiveness, sometimes drifting off at the oddest times. She is quick to defend others and thinks little of her own interests or safety when someone is in need.

Her only friend on the islands besides her brother is Hikari, who is Riku's daughter. Hikari is older than her by eight years, but is always glad to have the younger girl tag along. Namine is always a generally happy person, and only breaks down when someone yells at her. Luckily she can play into the 'daddies little girl' ploy and avoid almost any kind of trouble…until her mom gets home. Kairi, as well as Roxas, have developed immunity to the puppy dog eyes and the lower lip quiver and she is always the one punishing Namine and her brother.

Namine is extremely close to her older brother, and together with Hikari, they spend almost all day on the beaches of the islands. The three of them are as close to each other as Kairi, Riku, and Sora were when they were that age.

* * *

-**Hikari**

**Age:** 15

**Eyes:** Aqua

**Height:** 5'8

**Hair:** light blue/grayish (shoulder length)

**Weapon:** none _as of yet_

**T****echniques:** none _as of yet_

**Family:** Father: Riku Mother: Selphie

Hikari is best friends with Roxas and Namine. She and Roxas have been playing together since either of them could walk and they share a healthy rivalry. She's a big sister sort of figure to Namine, as she's an only child and prefers to spend her time with the younger girl. She has no problem with her following her around, she sees her as the little sister she never had and loves the company. She and Roxas are best friends like their parents had been.

She loves to spend time with her family. She takes particular interest in her father's stories of his and Sora's fight against the heartless and the Organization. Because of this she takes extreme pride in being Riku's daughter, and being a native of Destiny Island in general.

Like her father she's got that natural calm and collected attitude at first glance, but is easily excited like her mother.


	3. Chapter 2: Being a good Samaritan

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 2

Just Being a Good Samaritan

**Disclaimer: **Once again I'd just like to state that I own nothing in this story but the OC's, made up keyblades, and techniques I invented. Everything else belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

God I wish I did own Kingdom hearts though, because then everything right here would be canon.

* * *

Kairi had taken Namine off Roxas' hands and went upstairs to tuck her in. Meanwhile Sora and Roxas waited intently to hear Xelskyr's explanation.

"Alright, so what's the deal; who are you and why do you need a keyblade master so badly?" questioned Sora.

"Okay, let me start at the beginning. I'm the leader of a group called the Fateful XIII."

"Fateful XIII?"

The Nobody sighed. "Yea I know, it sounds a lot like Organization XIII, in fact our group is modeled a lot after the Organization. I assure you though, our goals are completely different."

"What would those goals be exactly?" he asked, still suspicious.

"Originally, it was formed to be a safe haven for all human form Nobodies, and to find my sister, or at least my Somebody's sister, but after I found she was a Nobody as well, she joined the Fateful. For a while we were just a small community of Nobodies, living out existence, taking in a few more members over the next few months, and keeping the lesser nobodies under control and out of the world's way."

"What happened to change that?" Sora asked eyeing him suspiciously.

He sighed and leaned forward slightly. "A few months ago, we noticed a large change in heartless movement. Up until recently, heartless movement has been few and far between, and the few spottings have been isolated incidents with no real planning or motive other than their basic instinct to seek and consume hearts."

He paused for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and sighed again. "Last month however, a nearby world in which we frequently visit for supplies was completely decimated by the heartless; it was a massive strike, numbering in the thousands."

Sora ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "That is concerning"

"The odd thing was, the world only received physical damage, its heart was completely untouched. As you know, that goes against every instinct of a heartless, which makes me think something weird is definitely up," Xelskyr finished.

"You're right, that is odd, I wonder what's going on," he agreed.

"So, where do I fit into all this?" piped in Roxas.

Sora put his feet up on the coffee table before answering. "Well, you are pretty much taking over as keyblade master, so this is pretty much your jurisdiction now."

Roxas' eyes lit up. "Really, awesome!"

"That's not what i came here for, we need a professional, an expert; not some rookie kid," Xelskyr complained.

"Hey, I can hold my own against anyone!" Roxas protested.

Xelskyr raised an eyebrow in speculation and annoyance. "Really? Why don't we test that fact?"

"Hold on, hold on. Before you two start destroying my house, I'll make a compromise," interjected Sora.

"What would that be?" asked the Nobody.

"I'll let Roxas take the reins on this one, meanwhile I'll be doing a little investigating of my own. I've got some people I can talk to, and some suspects I can think of. For the time being though, I think Roxas would be more useful to you anyway."

Xelskyr scoffed. "I think I'll have to disagree with you on that."

"Look at it this way, if you're so worried about all this, don't you want all the help you can get? Well there's a perfectly good keyblade wielder right there."

Xelskyr just sighed and mumbled something under his breath, not particularly happy with the current arrangement.

He just sighed in defeat. "I guess this is the best I can hope for. Alright, I accept; you've got an hour to pack up everything, kid."

"Wait, I'm leaving home?"

"Yea, you'll be staying with me and my organization at our base, it'll be easier to work that way."

"I guess that makes sense, but I still don't like it," he complained as he stormed upstairs to his room.

Once he was gone, Xelskyr eyed the older keyblader questioningly. "Do you honestly think he'll be able to handle this?"

"I was his age when I started my journey," stated Sora, remembering everything he went through at Roxas' age.

"That's not what I asked, do you think he can handle this?" asked Xelskyr again.

He closed his eyes and smirked. "Definitely."

"So what will you be doing then?"

"Oh, I've got some friends who may know something, and I've already got some ideas as to what going on, but at this point it's all speculation. In the meantime you just do what you can with Roxas. If there _is_ something more to this, then one of us is bound to find out eventually. "

"I just hope this doesn't all blow up in our face." he said as he turned down the hallway.

Xelskyr walked off and up the stairs, leaving Sora to his book which he was eager to finish. The Nobody took notice of everything in the hallways and staircase. There were pictures of Sora, Riku, and Kairi as kids and teenagers, the couples wedding pictures, and pictures of their children through the years. A few assorted flowers in a vase on a table were all that adorned the second floor hallway.

Even down the hall he could hear the boy rummaging through his clothes and bumping into several pieces of furniture. Stopping at his door, he took in the boy's room. There was a small bed next to the window overlooking the town on the island, a desk with a laptop and lamp, a small closet, a TV, and a dresser with several articles of clothing hanging freely out of its drawers.

"Having trouble?" he mocked.

"Shut up," he spat. "It's bad enough I've got to leave home, I don't need any sarcasm."

"What'd you think this was going to be like, some train ride where you can get off and on when you please? I'd tell you I was sorry for bursting your bubble, but it'd only be 'halfhearted' in retrospect," he said, laughing at his own joke. As a Nobody, he had no heart and couldn't feel any emotion whatsoever, though he could mimic them well. Truth was, he wasn't truly sorry for anything, because he never felt sorrow or guilt. Being a Nobody, in his opinion anyway, was sort of a mixed blessing. Sure, you don't technically exist, but at least you could feel sad about it.

His laughter suddenly disappeared and he put on a serious face. "Look, I can imagine this would be hard for you, so feel free to use your time to say goodbye to anyone you want, family or otherwise. Even I don't know when you'll be back; we could be done next week, or next year, so use your time wisely."

There was a long silence while Roxas gathered the last of his spare clothes and some food, until Roxas decided to break it.

They were now currently in the kitchen; it was around nine o'clock.

There was one question that was nagging in the back of his head he had to ask. "Hey Xelskyr, I've got a question."

"Shoot."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Going out of the way to help the worlds and the realm of light. My dad said that Nobodies are the leftover shells of people without hearts with no emotion, so why do you care?"

If he wasn't a Nobody, he might have felt hurt at the stab at what he was. "In truth you could say I don't, I'm not really capable of caring about anything or anyone. However, you could say I was feeling a little bored."

"Oh, I see, you just decided to do this out of the goodness of you 'heart' then."

He just laughed at the statement. "Good one kid, but I'm pretty sure you already know that answer to that question."

"This leads to another question."

"Again? Curious kid aren't you?" he joked.

Roxas paused before asking. "Do you remember your original self, back when you had a heart?"

There was a small silence before Xelskyr responded. "Yes, I do remember him, but I don't talk about him, none of the Fateful talk about their Somebodies."

"Why not?"

"Because, if we remembered what it was like to be human, we'd want that again, then we'd eventually start to be like Organization XIII, hunting hearts to regain our own. We don't want war; we only want to be left alone."

"I think I get it; you don't want to go through that much trouble and effort for something that you might end up failing at anyway."

"Something like that," grunted Xelskyr.

Even though he was a Nobody, Roxas could've sworn he was some pain in his eyes, but dismissed it. He was probably just making mountains out of molehills.

"Anyway, is there anyone specific you want to say goodbye to before we leave?"

He thought about it for a second, but already knew who he'd go to. "I suppose my parents could tell Nami where I went off to, but I do want to say goodbye to my friend Hikari."

"Let's hit the road then," he said turning to the hallway.

Roxas noticed that his parents were waiting at the front door, both had their arms crossed. Xelskyr stepped aside to let them have their moment.

"I'll see you later son, kick some butt out there!" he smiled, giving his son a knuckle punch. Then he turned to his mother. She pulled him into a hug before he could even react.

"I'll see you soon dear, just stay safe alright?" her voice quivering as she spoke.

"Sure thing, now could you stop suffocating me?"

"I'm sorry, but I'll miss you," she said practically on the verge of tears.

"He'll be fine; I'll make sure of that. I'll assign him a partner to watch his back if I think he's heading into hot water."

"Thank you," she said, still weepy.

Xelskyr put a hand on the younger boys shoulder. "Come on kid, we've got a lot to do and a long road in front of us."

He nodded in acknowledgement.

He waved as he went down the street. "See you both later, and tell Nami I'm sorry for not saying by myself!"

"Just stay in one piece, that'll be enough for her!" yelled back Sora.

Roxas just laughed and turned the corner out of his neighborhood, leaving home for who knows how long.

* * *

**There ya go, chapter 2. I can't help but feel this one was a little shaky, but i promise the story will get much better and the action will be picking up soon. They will be visiting other worlds and they will meet some of our favorite characters. And don't anyone worry, Sora, Riku, and Kairi will make more appearances in the story. If anyone has any suggestions for worlds they'd like to see in the story, tell me. Review will be appreciated.  
**

* * *


	4. Chapter 3: We'll go Together

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 3

We'll Go Together

**Disclaimer: **I hope I got the point across that I don't own kingdom hearts or Disney yet. On the off chance that someone hasn't gotten it yet, I don't own anything in this story except my OC's, made up keyblades, and techniques. Other than that, everything else belongs to Square Enix and Disney.

(A/N: I apologize for the shorty short chapter, the next one is much longer.)

* * *

The streets of Destiny Islands were dark, and only the street lamps illuminated the two figures walking down the sidewalks. There were no cars running at this hour, and the only sounds in the air were the sounds of their footsteps and the faint muffled voices from the TV's in the passing houses. Roxas had one hand clutching his duffel over his shoulder, and the other in his pocket. Xelskyr was simply walking with both hands at his sides, impassive as to his environment.

Three blocks later, they were staring down the yard of a medium sized yellow house, with the living room and upstairs lights still on. It seemed Riku and Selphie were downstairs, while Hikari was upstairs either watching TV or writing in her journal. That was really all she did when she wasn't out with Roxas and Namine. Xelskyr leaned back on a street lamp as Roxas waked is way up to the porch.

He delivered three quick but strong knocks to the front door. Within seconds, Roxas was staring up at a man who was a few inches taller than Xelskyr, with near silver looking hair.

"Hey Roxas, what're you doing here this time of night?" asked Riku.

He hoped he hadn't shown up at a bad time, but he had to say goodbye. "Hi sir, is Hikari upstairs?"

"Uh, yes she is, why, is there something wrong?" he said as he raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"No, I'm just going to be gone for a while, and I don't know when I'll be back."

"I see, well feel free to go on up then," he said stepping aside.

Roxas hurried up the stairs, passed the bathroom and Hikari's parent's room, and stopped at her door. It was adorned with pictures of the three of them at the beach, the park, school, wherever. Again, he delivered three strong taps to her door, and waited for her to answer.

When she finally did open her door, she was already in her pajamas. Roxas had never really come by this late before, and he'd never really seen her pajamas before, so it was a little awkward for the both of them. It was awkward because her pajamas consisted of only a high cut tank top and some spare short shorts. There was a good long silence between the two of them before Roxas cleared his throat and started up the conversation.

"Uh…hey, Hikari," he said nervously.

"Y-yea, hi…is there something you need?" she asked, refusing to make eye contact.

"Oh no, I just swung by to say goodbye, I'm leaving for a…long time and I have no idea when I'll be back."

She eyed him nervously. "Like, how long?"

"Like maybe a whole year long, it might be shorter but I don't know."

At this she completely flew off the handle. "A year! What could you be doing that would take a year?"

"I'm not exactly sure yet, that's why I'm going away, it'll make this job easier," he explained in a sad tone. She stood there for a second looking down at the floor, then furiously turned around and opened her closet with more force than necessary.

"What're you doing?"

"What's it look like, I'm coming with you stupid!" she declared fiercely.

He sighed. "Hikari, I know you've come with me before, but this one could be really dangerous. I'll be working with some shady characters, and I don't want you to get hurt."

She smirked confidently. "Oh, I won't get hurt, I can handle myself just fine, don't you worry!"

"I'm serious Hikari, you're not coming, that's that, this is way too dangerous for you," he said, trying in vain to be stern.

"I keep telling you, I'll be fine!" she argued.

"Yea, and I keep telling you that you won't, I'm not letting you come with me, you can't even fight!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes really, I don't see you with a keyblade!"

She stopped her packing and rushed to her door. Quietly closing it she turned back around and sighed heavily.

"Okay look, I think I should show you something, but only if you promise not to tell anyone, especially not my dad." She was practically whispering to him now.

"Uh… sure?"

"Alright, here I go."

She shut her eyes tight and held out her hand. A few seconds later a flash of light appeared around her hand, and was quickly replaced with a…keyblade! It didn't seem like just any old keyblade either.

It was extremely elegant, the hilt was a deep blue, and the blade was in the shape of a white angel wing, with a small dragon wing protruding from the back of the blade. It looked to be the exact mirror reflection of the Way to Dawn.

"This is _my_ keyblade Roxas, the Threshold of Light," she said with a look of shame.

"Y-you've got a keybla-"

Hikari cut him off by quickly by covering his mouth with both her hands.

"That's why I never told you, you'd have freaked out," she hissed.

"Now...if you stay quiet, I'll let go."

Roxas responded by nodding furiously. She let her hands fall and he sat down on her bed, running his hands through his thick hair.

"Why didn't tell me, for that matter, how long have you had it?"

"Well, I got it about a month after you got yours. As for why I kept it hidden, it was because I saw how much people in other worlds looked at you like a hero, and I didn't want that. I mean, you've heard those stories from our dads, i didn't want to get sucked into something like that. All I want is a normal life, so I hid it from everyone," she explained.

Roxas was shocked, how could his best friend keep something like this from him? "Alright, let me get this straight. I've spent that last half year busting my butt traveling to all kinds of different worlds and getting attacked by heartless, while you sit back here when you could have been helping me?"

She put her head down in shame. "Yea, I'm sorry, I know it was selfish of me, but that's why I'm telling you now. Even if it's ten times more dangerous that what our dad's had to do, i want to be there to help you out."

Our conversation was interrupted as the sound of a dark corridor opening up her room. Xelskyr hopped out of a portal he made in the corner of her room with an annoyed look on his face. Hikari freaked out and immediately clutched onto my arm.

"Alright, how long does it take to say goodbye, I'd like to get going if possible," complained Xelskyr while tapping his foot.

"Shut up, something came up."

"And what would that be?"

"Turns out, Hikari here is a keyblader too."

"Really," he said in obvious interest.

Hikari was standing there giving Roxas a death glare like she wanted to strangle him.

"What?"

"You just promised you wouldn't tell anyone!" she shouted.

"Calm down, this is the only way I'll be able to get him to let you come with me."

"You mean I can come?" she asked incredulously.

"I don't know…can she?"

"Ugh, you know what, fine, just hurry up already! I'm half tempted to leave you both here!"

Hikari gave a happy squeal sort of noise and proceeded to pack up the last of her clothes happily. After that she jumped into her bathroom to change into some clothes. When she finally came back out again she wore some well tattered blue jeans, a yellow and white vest with a black undershirt. She had her silver hair in a ponytail so it didn't get in her face.

Roxas sat up as she re-entered the room. "All set?"

"You bet, let's hit the road!"

Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait, what about your parents, they'll worry about you if you just disappear out of no where."

"Oh right, I'll just leave them a quick note, they'll understand."

She rushed over to her desk and spent the next minute or so scribbling onto a scrap piece of paper.

"Now are we all set?" asked Xelskyr in an agitated voice.

"Yep, now we're all set," said Roxas with a thumbs up.

"Alright then, let's go."

He held out his hand and a dark corridor re-opened in Hikari's room. Xelskyr stood there next to it, waiting for them to go through.

"Come on Hikari," he said grabbing hold of her hand, "we'll go together."

"Right," she replied with a firm nod.

Together they both jumped into the portal, follow closely by Xelskyr, and then it closed, leaving Destiny Island behind.

* * *

**Thanks again to all those who are reading this thing. It seems like a bit of a slow start, I know, but trust me, the action is coming, and it'll make up for all the boring parts in the story so far. If there's one thing I know how to do, it's fight scenes. **

**Once again, please review. I'd really like to get a little feedback on how I'm doing so far.**


	5. Chapter 4: Fond Reminders

The Fateful XIII

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 4

Fond reminders

**Disclaimer: **I'll keep it simple this time. Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix, and any Disney related material obviously belongs to Disney. The only things I own are the stuff I make up, like my OC's.

(A/N: Yes! This is a good chapter, you get to meet the rest of my OC's...well except for one, but he'll pop up soon too.)

* * *

Going through the portal was a strange sensation to say the least. At first it was like being warped in different directions then put back in place, then it was followed by an intense and sharp pain in their chests, like their hearts were being squeezed and suffocated. The sensation faded away as soon as it came on however, as Roxas and Hikari were hurled out of the darkness and onto the ground in a grassy field. Xelskyr's exit was a bit more graceful, easily exiting the portal and standing over the two younger teens.

"You could have warned us about that," Roxas complained.

The Nobody just put his hands up. "Hey, I wasn't the one who jumped head first into a dark corridor. You could have stepped in slowly like a normal person, but no, you've got to make it all dramatic."

"Stop it you two, or do I have to separate you?" Scolded Hikari.

"She's right, we shouldn't be wasting time, let's go," agreed Roxas.

"Alright Speedy Gonzalez, follow me."

Xelskyr led Roxas and Hikari through the dirt path that led through the flat fields. The landscape was extremely dull; high grass, the occasional tree, and one mountain in the distance. It wasn't until they climbed a particularly large hill that they noticed a plateau that the path was leading to.

"Is that where we're heading?" asked Roxas incredulously.

"Yes, that's our base."

"A plateau is you base?" It was Hikari's turn to sound astounded.

"No, the plateau isn't our base; it's what's underneath it."

"Oh, so it's underground, talk about security," commented Roxas.

"You bet, it's the most secure place in all the worlds, I paid no expense in decking it out with plenty of defensive measures. Not to mention we have one hell of a mechanic and a top of the line technician," He bragged.

While they were talking, they had gotten ever closer to the plateau. Roxas was looking almost at a ninety degree by the time they had ended their conversation. It was jagged like any other plateau; plain like the rest of the landscape.

"So, how do we get inside?" asked Roxas, almost sarcastically.

Xelskyr cracked his knuckles. "Watch and learn kid."

Placing his hand on the rock wall of the plateau, he focused for a brief second, then the rock disappeared in a white flash. When the white faded, it was replaced by a huge metal blast door with a control panel on the right side. Xelskyr proceeded to punch in a numeric code that neither Roxas nor Hikari could see, and then put his hand on the newly revealed palm scanner.

Once the slow moving doors opened far enough for them to enter, they were staring down a long, cold, metal hallway, with a similar blast door at the other end. Walking down the hallway, Roxas took note of two surveillance cameras rotating at the end of the hall in front of the doors. They stopped in front of the second set of blast doors, and Xelskyr leaned in on a retinal scanner. There were a series of beeps as the second set of doors opened, and an elevator became accessible.

"We'll be heading to the main lounge, I've asked everyone to gather there," he explained as he pushed a button with a capitol 'L' on it.

"How many others are there?" asked Hikari.

"Twelve others, as our name -The Fateful XIII- implies."

"Okay, so what are we doing here exactly?" she asked rubbing the back of her neck.

"Roxas was there when I explained everything, he can fill you in once you're settled. Right now though, it's time I introduced you to everyone, come on," he stepped out of the elevator, which the two just realized had stopped.

They dashed out to catch up with the Nobody, who led them into a huge lounge room. The floor was covered in black carpeting, which contrasted against the white walls and ceiling. There was a section to the right of the room that had thirteen mini fridges and a counter with a microwave. To the left of the room, there were several red and black chairs and couches around a large coffee table and next to a series of bookshelves packed to the brim. Twelve hooded figures in the same coats as Xelskyr sat over in the seats.

Roxas couldn't see any of their faces, but he could tell their eyes were locked on either him or Hikari, and she was getting the same feeling.

"Alright guys, these are the keyblade masters, Roxas and Hikari," announced Xelskyr.

"What, no Sora and Riku?" asked one of the hooded figures.

"It's a long story; Sora isn't going to be working with us directly, but he said he'd be doing a little of his own investigating. These two are pretty much their replacements." replied Xelskyr.

"Congratulations jackass, you failed your own mission." said the same figure.

"Shove it, Aehxcilm; I took what I could get."

Hikari was slowly just sinking behind Xelskyr and Roxas, taking in the vibe that they weren't exactly welcome. Roxas was getting the same feeling, and was taking a few small steps back as well.

"Settle down, all they need is some training and they'll be fine," commented another.

"Yea, they don't look to shabby, and besides, a third girl is just what we need in this predominantly male organization. Seriously bro, I'm starting to think you're a bit sexist," complained a third.

"Whatever, let's just get past the introductions so we can get to business," he said impatiently.

"Alright, so Roxas and Hikari, you already know who I am, so the rest of the group is going to introduce themselves."

"Sounds good to me," replied Roxas.

"Right, so we'll just go by number, have fun," said Xelskyr, now leaning lazily against the wall.

One of the figures close to Roxas and Hikari stood and removed his hood. He had dirty blond, spiky hair and a stone like face, showing almost no emotion; he lived up to Roxas' expectations of how a Nobody would look.

"My name is Xealx, I am the second in command of the Fateful XIII, my element is wind," he stated emotionlessly.

The next one to stand was on the other side of the table. Once his hood was removed it revealed light brown, slicked back hair; his expression a bit more aggressive.

"The name's Aehxcilm and I don't feel like talking to you."

Immediately after Aehxcilm sat down, the next person next to him sat up excitedly, practically bouncing into a landing as he removed his hood. He had shaggy, shoulder length red hair and a strangely happy expression. He was the tallest of the group as well.

"Hi, my name's Nevax, I'm number four in the Fateful, and my elements water! Oh, and don't worry about this guy over here, he's a jerk to everyone, so don't take it personally," he said with a grin.

Aehxcilm just replied with an annoyed grunt.

The next to stand up was on the chair next to the couch that Nevax and Aehxcilm. Once his hood was down, he revealed curly brown hair and a face covered in freckles.

"Hey, the name's Onjasx, I'm number five, and my element is earth," he said with a toothy grin.

As he sat, another sitting next to him stood, quickly pulling down his hood. He had short bright blond hair and was by far the shortest of the thirteen.

"Ranxao's the name, I'm number six and my element is wood, but it can also be considered plants!" he said with a little too much enthusiasm.

The next person was the closest to the two keyblade masters, but he didn't stand, he didn't even remove his hood, he just sat there reading the book he'd been absorbed in since they got there.

"Becxal," he stated quietly.

"He's not much of a talker, please excuse his rudeness," said the next person to stand.

He had dark brown collarbone length hair and a smirk on his face. His eyes seemed locked on Hikari.

"Hyrxs is the name milady, my number is eight and my element is sound. Perhaps I can demonstrate with a sample of my work, such a lovely girl such as yourse-"

He was suddenly cut off as another of the still hooded figures delivered a hard punch to his cheek, blowing him back into the wall. He pulled down his hood showing his messy dark blond hair and extremely annoyed expression.

"God, just shut up Hyrxs, she's not going to date you so give up!" he shouted angrily.

"Sorry about that, he's a bit of a douche when it comes to women. Anyway, I'm Axnes, I'm the ninth member, and I don't have an element, but I do have a lot of weapons and I'm the Fateful's official mechanic," he said cracking his knuckles.

The next person already had her hood down, and was staring at the two of them over the back of her chair. She had bright blond hair in a short ponytail, and an innocent smile.

"I'm Elkxyse, I'm number ten and my element is electricity. As I said before, it's nice to finally have more than just two girls around. And the fact we have a cute guy here us just a bonus!" she exclaimed happily.

"Uh, thank you?" Roxas said with a slightly red face.

"Aw, and polite too, what a catch!" she said, sounding flirtatious.

"Okay, quit torturing the kid Elk," said Xelskyr, who Roxas almost forgot was there.

She sat back down in a pout, and the next figure took his stand. He had bright blond hair that was slicked back like Aehxcilm, accompanied with a goofy, hyperactive grin.

"Hiya, my names Tevesix, I'm obviously number eleven, and my element is the soul or spirits. Basically it means I can call the souls of the dead to do my bidding and such; it's got plenty of applications."

"I can imagine," stated Roxas, clearly amazed.

Even while Tevesix and Roxas had this short conversation, the twelfth member stood and removed her hood. She had waist length dirty blond hair, and the same cloak as the rest of them.

"Now that he's done, it's my turn. My names Venxdi, I'm the twelfth member and I can control dimensions. Essentially, whatever I draw I can bring to life, or at least give three dimensional form," she explained.

"Wow, that's cool," Hikari commented.

The last member stood and removed his hood. He had short black hair and a small smile, but overall had a mostly neutral expression.

"My name is Rhcxis, I'm the last member and my element is gravity. It's nice to meet you both."

"Likewise," responded Roxas.

Xelskyr pushed up off the wall he was leaning on. "Well then, now that you're at least a little familiar with everyone, you should probably get settled in. Elk, get these guys to some empty rooms, the rest of you; just go back to whatever you were doing."

Elkxyse jumped straight over the back of her chair. "Alright, come on you two!"

Before either of them knew what was happening she had them both by their wrists, pulling them toward a set of doors on the opposite wall from the elevator. She was extremely eccentric and Roxas was practically tripping over his own feet to keep up. Hikari had even more trouble, pretty much being dragged on her knees. Just when it seemed Roxas would lose his balance and Hikari would start losing the skin on her legs, they stopped in front of a hallway with identical doors running down its lengths.

She let her vice-like grip go limp on their wrists, leaving bright white marks on their skin. "My bro had this place designed for a whole bunch of people; I guess he thought there would be more Nobodies to join. Regardless, there's no shortage of rooms here, so you two can have separate ones if you want."

"Why wouldn't we want separate rooms?" Roxas asked, displaying Sora-like clueless ness.

Elkxyse just started to giggle furiously. "Man, you sure are sheltered. Anyway, just choose a room you want and unpack all your stuff. I or someone else will be back in about an hour to get you acclimated with your training, see ya."

As she skipped off in her usual high speed pace, Roxas was still in a state of heavy though, trying in vain to decipher what Elkxyse had meant. Hikari had noticed his odd face and the fact that he was staring off into space, which was something she'd expect more from Namine than him.

"What're you thinking about?" she asked.

"What did she mean about having separate rooms?" he asked, still staring into space.

Hikari just sighed at his usual stupidity. "Don't think about it too much, you'll overwork that hard head of yours."

She followed up her teasing with a few light taps to his head. He may have been an idiot sometimes, but he was her idiot.

"Well, I guess I'll take this room and you can take the one right across from it," finished Hikari, first gesturing toward the door behind her, then to the one across from it.

"Works for me."

Roxas turned to the door behind him and opened it to reveal his new room. The carpet was the same checker pattern as the members' gloves and boots, but with significantly larger squares. The bed had a white mattress and sheets, with black pillows and covers. There was a black couch with white pillows to the left of the door, and a flat screen T.V on the other wall. There was a nightstand next to his bed and a dresser in the right corner on the same wall as the door. The walls were white with a number of black line designs, though Roxas had no idea what they were for or what they meant, if anything at all.

Needless to say it was a pretty luxurious room, though he would have preferred a bit more color.

Ignoring that small detail he liked the room and began quickly unpacking everything he'd packed with him. He brought out his five sets of shirts, pants, socks, and boxers as well as another jacket similar to the one he was currently wearing. He also brought along a few packaged snacks that wouldn't require anything like refrigeration or heating. And lastly, his mom's famous lucky charm which his dad insisted on giving him for his thirteenth birthday. He said he'd need it someday and that it had gotten him through a lot of hard times; of course Roxas had never expected him to be right about him needing it. In his current situation though, he was glad he had it.

In Hikari's room, which was identical to Roxas', she too was unpacking her things. She had also taken five sets of clothes, along with a few snacks for the time being. She also brought along some photos of home that were her personal favorites. They consisted of one of her whole family, one of her and Roxas racing on the beach, and one of her and Namine building a sandcastle. The last one, which was her all time favorite, was on of her, Roxas, and Namine all sitting on the docks at sunset. They were fond reminders of home, and that was something she was sure she was going to need.

They both plopped down on their respective beds and thought the same thing to themselves, '_this is gonna be weird.'_

* * *

**There we go, I hope that makes up for the last chapter, I know that one was kinda short. I'll post up the bio's for all the members right along with this chapter, so check that out to. Of course, keep in mind that the bio's will obviously be incomplete, I don't want to tell you _everything. _There are a lot of things about me (Xelskyr) in particular that I want to keep secret, I think it would be more fun for you guys if you found out more through the progression of the story rather than me just handing that particular knowledge to you.  
**

**Now onto reviews. I'm getting desperate, so I've enabled the anonymous setting.** **That basically means even if your not a member you can still review. **


	6. Main character bio's part 2

Main Characters part 2

**The Fateful XIII**

**Disclaimer: **Alright guys, these are a good chunk of my OC's, (and you'll notice I'm up first). That means they belong to ME, pretty much everything on this page came directly from MY MIND!

The only things I don't own are the few Disney worlds I mentioned, and Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion. They belong to Disney and Square Enix respectively.

* * *

**Xelskyr**- (The Subjective Truth)

Age: 16

Eyes: Pale green

Height: 5'9

Hair: dark brown (flat and shoulder length)

Element/weapon: Subspace and Energy/?

Techniques: Flash Point, Null Zone, Nova Fist, Nobodies Void

Family: Sister-Elkxyse

Xelskyr's element is by far the most varied, which is his manipulation of Subspace and Energy. He has the ability to instantaneously teleport anywhere in space much faster than corridors of darkness. He also has the ability to bend any kind of energy to his will, which makes the number of uses of this power incalculable. He can create blasts of plasma or control the electromagnetic spectrum. He can even create time dilation fields with subspace in which he can control the flow of time around a specific object or person. However his weapon is completely unknown; he has never been in a situation where he has needed to reveal it.

Despite his overwhelming powers, he has a very sarcastic personality. He can be serious when he has to be, and he is actually quite intelligent. He is the leader of the Fateful, and isn't afraid to use his powers to intimidate both his fellow members, and his opponents. He spends most of his free time with Xealx, not only because he is his right hand man, but because their original selves had been best friends before they both lost their hearts.

Even though he is the leader, Xelskyr take a very active role in the field, often saving the most dangerous assignment for himself.

His home-world is unknown.

* * *

**Xealx**- (The Murderous Gust)

Age: 15 ½

Eyes: Blue

Height: 5'11

Hair: dirty blond (constantly spiked)

Element/weapon: Air/halberd

Techniques: Cyclone Blades, Vacuum, Storm Shield

Family: none

Xealx is number two in the Fateful, and is the second in command, answering only to Xelskyr. He has power over the wind and air, which greatly increases his speed and agility. He can concentrate the molecules in the air into a sharpened edge to effectively cut with the wind itself. His all time favorite way to dispose of opponents however; is to slowly kill them with a suffocating vacuum. His abilities also include creating small cyclones and using the wind to deflect weapons in a near 360 degree shield.

As a fighter, Xealx is merciless and often quite cruel, but unlike Xelskyr, he doesn't show any physical enjoyment in fighting. He is normally a quiet and plain person around the other Fateful members, but has no problem goofing off with Xelskyr. While the two are the most powerful members of the Fateful, they can sometimes also be the most childish.

His home-world is unknown.

* * *

**Aehxcilm** - (The Furious Inferno)

Age: 16 ½

Eyes: Brown

Height: 5'12

Hair: light brown (slicked back)

Element/Weapon: Fire/Claymore

Techniques: Blast Magma, Ember Spitball, Fire Fists, Burning Dragon

Family: none

Aehxcilm is not only the third member of the Fateful, but is also the oldest, if only by a few months. His fire based attacks, combined with his claymore makes for a deadly combination. He can shoot fireballs from his palms and spit embers from his mouth, but his most unique attack, is firing small shots of magma from the tip of his sword. It burns through anything and everything it comes in contact with, and moves at the same velocity as a bullet.

True to his element and title, his fighting style is extremely aggressive and has wide spread effect areas. There are very few members of the Fateful he talks to. Onjasx, Nevax, and Hyrxs are the only ones he regularly associates with. Outside them, the rest of the members aren't particularly fond of him. He's scornful and aggressive towards anyone who he finds annoying or thinks is getting in his way. The only person who's ever been able to give him orders that he'd actually follow is Xelskyr.

He was originally from the Land of Dragons.

* * *

**Nevax**- (The Raging Tidal)

Age: 15 ½

Eyes: Green

Height: 6'0

Hair: Deep red (shaggy and shoulder length)

Element/Weapon: Water/Bladed Oar

Techniques: Liquid Tendrils, Crystal Dragon, Scorching Steam

Family: none

Nevax is the fourth member of the Fateful and is the exact opposite of Aehxcilm in that while his fighting style is crude and violent, Nevax's is smooth and well organized. Like his element, his attacks are elegant and string together to form, often, long and complex combined techniques. He has the ability to control any and all water around him and can change it's state of matter from solid to liquid or gas and vice-versa. He has the tendency to create an octopus like creature of water and use it to subdue foes. He also likes to create dragons out of ice and use then as a steed to take on opponents.

As a member of the Fateful, he is well liked by his peers. He takes the time to stop and chat with every member at least once during the day if they aren't on any assignments. While he is talkative and at times, annoying, he is serious when it's called for and, despite what many of his opponents think, he has quite a strategic mind.

Nevax was originally from Atlantica

* * *

**Onjasx**- (The Jagged Fault)

Age: 16 ½

Eyes: Green

Height: 5'10

Hair: dark brown (curly)

Element/Weapon: Earth/Spiked Warhammer

Techniques: Thor's Hammer, Stone Missiles, Pitfall

Family: none

Onjasx uses primarily Earth based attacks, using the stone or metal around him as shields and armor. Contrary to his size, he is extremely strong and hefts his spiked war hammer with ease. His hammer can create huge shockwaves that blow back his enemies and can also distort the earth around him in ways that defy the laws of physics then launch then at his opponents like missiles. He also has the ability to create sinkholes and collapse multiple meters of land

Onjasx is the fifth member of the Fateful and is a good contender when it comes to childishness and immaturity. Despite his similarities with Xelskyr and Xealx, he is significantly more responsible. Xelskyr is a naturally forgetful person, and Xealx just chooses to ignore orders on occasion, but Onjasx is completely devoted to the Fateful's cause.

His home-world is unknown.

* * *

**Ranxao**- (The Primal Marauder)

Age: 15

Eyes: Brown

Height: 5'6

Hair: Bright blond (flat and short)

Element/Weapon: Wood or plants/ Great Axe

Techniques: Leaf Cutter, Venus Mantrap, Photosynthetic Charge

Family: none

Ranxao is the only member of the Fateful whose fighting style is more brutal and violent than Aehxcilm's. Ranxao has the ability to enhance the growth and size of the plants and trees in any environment. With them he can mutate them into sentient carnivorous plants or use them as long range weapons. He can also use them to make walk ways and platforms, which are good in combination with his almost monkey like agility in the trees. He has an odd affinity for the creatures, and has a tattoo of a cartoon monkey on his left bicep which he constantly showed off to the new members of the Fateful as they joined. His most unique ability however, is his ability to enter a super enhanced state of Photosynthesis, literally absorbing strength straight from the sunlight and doubling his strength and speed for a few minutes.

Ranxao is one of the few people in the Fateful who can talk to Aehxcilm and not turn it into a one sided conversation. He is quick to make friends, but has a short temper and is prone to punching people in the arm for almost no reason other than it's a subconscious response. He is also good friends with Nevax and Onjasx, and is also likes to talk to Xelskyr when time permits. Because of his willingness to fight and explore, he's almost always on assignments.

He was originally from the Deep Jungle.

* * *

**Becxal**- (The Silent Shade)

Age: 14

Eyes: Green

Height: 5'11

Hair: dark brown with blue tips (naturally spiky)

Element/Weapon: Shadow/ Dual Sia's

Technique: Sink, Rapid Fire, Aerial Dance

Family: none

Becxal's title describes him very well, as he has the ability to meld in with shadows and travel in the same way a Shadow does. He keeps two Sia's with him at all times, and is a master of stealthy kills, often popping out of the dark or the ground, delivering a few quick stabs and slashes, then sinking back down into safety. When an opponent is especially powerful, he will knock them into the air then meld into the shadows and attack them again from above.

Becxal is sort of the dark horse member of the Fateful because he never speaks to anyone except Xelskyr and his sister Elkxyse. Even then though, he only says the bare minimum, usually resorting to snorts and grunts instead of actual words. His cool and calm exterior has earned him the admiration of a lot of the greener members of the Fateful. No one really knows what Becxal really thinks of anyone in the Fateful, because as was stated before, he never really speaks at all.

His home-world is unknown.

* * *

**Hyrxs**- (The Blaring Trumpeter)

Age: 16

Eyes: Green

Height: 5'8

Hair: dark brown (collarbone length)

Element/Weapon: Sound/War Horn

Techniques: Sonic Boom, Soprano Screech, Baritone Cannon

Family: none

Hyrxs is half fighter, and half actual musician, and divides his life between the two. He is the least likely to volunteer for an assignment, and is usually found back at their base playing his horn. His fighting moves control and amplify the sound waves made by his horn, converting it into a cannon like weapon. His most basic move is just playing a single random note on his horn, blowing back anything within ten meters of him. He can also either play it so high pitch that it can disrupt his opponents hearing and balance, or so low that it can blow apart anything in front of him. He also has the habit of singing during fights to confuse and distract his opponents

Though he is a Nobody and can't actually feel emotions of any kind, he can often be found flirting with local girls while on missions, which is why he's always with a partner. Needless to say he's a bit of a womanizer in his own right, and sure of himself almost to a fault. Despite his shortcomings however, he's good at retrieving information from contacts because of his natural charismatic attitude and conversational skills in negotiation. In short, he's the Fateful's middleman, go-between, and ambassador.

His home-world is unknown.

* * *

**Axnes**- (The Fatal Terrorizor)

Age: 16

Eyes: Brown

Height: 5'11

Hair: dirty blond (short and messy)

Element/Weapon: none/explosives and firearms

Techniques: none

Family: none

Axnes is the Fateful's resident mechanic and weapons-expert. His attacks consist almost completely of an assortment of grenades, guns, charges, mines, rockets; anything that goes BANG and BOOM. While not exactly a front line fighter, he is an expert of ambush and surprise thanks to all the havoc his devices normally cause. He does have some exceptional martial arts skill to fall back on when things get rough however, and is a decent match for most opponents if he takes the time to plan his moves. He's the most dangerous though, when he has the time to rig the battlefield with his explosives and lead his opponents into them, then mow them down with his assortment of rifles, shotguns, pistols, and other projectile based weapons.

Axnes is generally liked by everyone, but is by no means anyone favorite person. He spends all his spare time in his lab building new and better demolitions equipment, or performing maintenance on the bases defense systems. It's not that he doesn't want friends or that he can't make any, he just doesn't have enough time.

He has never disclosed his home-world, but it is guessed that he is a native of Radiant Garden.

* * *

10.) **Elkxyse**- (The Static Ravager)

Age: 13 ½

Eyes: Green

Height: 5'7

Hair: bright blond (short ponytail)

Element/Weapon: Electricity/Any source of electricity

Techniques: Static Blaster, Thundagium, Circuit Breaker

Family: Brother-Xelskyr

Elkxyse uses electrical based attacks. She can call down her own enhanced version of the Thunder spell, as well as fire static charges from her hands and can siphon energy from any electronic devise. She can also magnetize objects and hack into computer systems with her mastery of electrical currents and circuitry, making her the Fateful's leading, (and only), technician.

Elkxyse is the tenth member of the Fateful, and is Xelskyr's original self's sister. While they aren't technically siblings, they consider each other in that regard, and the Fateful itself was originally created -in part- to find her. Her brother finally found her in Twilight Town a year in a half after forming the Fateful. Despite being a nobody, Elkxyse has a great respect for her brother and the more senior members of the Fateful, and her goal is to one day finally outdo her brother.

Her home-world is unknown.

* * *

11.) **Tevesix**- (The Reaping Necrosis)

Age: 16

Eyes: Brown

Height: 5'10

Hair: bright blond (slicked back)

Element/Weapon: Spirit/Souls of the dead

Techniques: Organization XIII Summons

Family: none

Tevesix has the unique ability to summon the souls of either the dead, or the souls of destroyed Nobodies. He can summon long dead warriors to do his bidding, or bring forth lesser ghosts to create a shield or blast of ectoplasm. He wields no weapon other than the souls he summons. His most powerful summons are the original Organization XIII members. Unfortunately he can only summon one at a time due to their powerful nature.

He picked up the strange habit of summoning souls while not in combat, only to talk to them and learn about their lives. Most everyone else in the Fateful finds it odd that a Nobody would hold that kind of curiosity, but it never gets in the way of his duty, so no one minds. He will most likely spend hours in his room speaking with all manner of historic figures. On Halloween however, he likes to summon the scariest souls he can find and have them wander the halls of the base at night and scare the other Fateful members.

As a member, Tevesix is friendly with everyone, but like Nevax, he tends to talk a bit too much and is way too hyper. He also has Ranxao's habit of punching people in the arm. He's generally liked by most everyone, but like Axnes and Rhcxis, he doesn't go out of his way to make friends. He's a decent fighter and loyal Fateful member, sometimes volunteering for missions out of sheer spite or boredom.

He was originally from the Underworld.

* * *

12.) **Venxdi**- (The Forgotten Artist)

Age: 16

Eyes: Green

Height: 5'9

Hair: dirty blond (waist length)

Element/Weapon: Dimensions/Sketch pad and pen

Techniques: Order of 1000 knights, Dragon Swarm, Avatars of the Keyblade

Family: none

Venxdi has powers similar to Xelskyr in the fact that she manipulates dimensions instead of subspace. She uses her sketch pad and draws whatever she wants, then uses her mastery of the 2nd and 3rd dimension to bring her drawings to life and give them three dimensional form. Her powers have incalculable uses as she can draw something as simple as a cup of water or a plate of food; or she could draw an entire army of knights for her to command. Her powers are only limited by her imagination and stamina.

As a member, she knows everyone to some degree, but only really speaks to Xelskyr and Elkxyse. She is extremely well liked in the Fateful and when anyone needs something, she's the first one they go to. In fact, she's seen as a sort of big sister sort of figure to the less senior members of the Fateful.

She is a native of Radiant Garden.

* * *

13.) **Rhcxis**- (The Gravitational Aviator)

Age: 16

Eyes: Brown

Height: 5'11

Hair: black (Short)

Element/Weapon: Gravity/Bladed Staff

Techniques: Gravitational Slam, Rising Forces, Slingshot Effect

Family: none

Rhcxis is the last but certainly not the weakest member of the Fateful; in fact he's quite versatile. Rhcxis, like Hyrxs and Axnes, isn't a frontline fighter, but is very good at recon. He's the only member that can defy the laws of gravity and fly without constraint. Xealx can fly as well, but not indefinitely like Rhcxis, making him perfect for reconnaissance jobs. In the event he's drawn into a fight, he can use his staff to manipulate the surrounding gravitational field, either making it so high it crushes his enemies, or so low they harmlessly float into the air, and plummet back down to earth. He can even use the gravity around a particular object and fire his staff at high speeds using the Slingshot Effect. (A/N: if you don't know what the Slingshot Effect is, watch more Star Trek.)

He quickly made friends with Xelskyr, Elkxyse, and even with Xealx. He talks to everyone occasionally, but never goes out of his way to make friends with everyone. Like a lot of the lower numbered members, he has a great sense of respect for Becxal because of his level headed and cool attitude. He holds Xelskyr in even higher regards however, simply impressed by the raw power that he possesses and how effortlessly he wields it.

His home-world is unknown.

* * *

**Alright then, you've seen pretty much every main character so far, including my own fine self. There's only one guy left, and he's a pretty interesting basket-case. I of course am speaking of the Antagonist! I won't be releasing any names or details yet, but just know he'll be revealing himself very soon. He'll even end up going one-on-one with one of our favorite Anime/Manga stars, but I'm not going to ruin the surprise as to who. I'm actually writing the fight scene now, and it's gooooooood!**


	7. Chapter 5: Fools Hope

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 5

Fools hope

**Disclaimer: **For those of you who don't seem to get it, i don't own Kingdom Hearts or Disney. No matter how much i may beg or plea. But hey, at least i still have my OC's!

(A/N: I would like to give special thanks to kakashis1andonli for being the first person to favorite this story. Thanks a million!)

* * *

Roxas and Hikari had been waiting in their rooms for about an hour now. Both their bags fully unpacked and clothes in order, snacks lay out on their dressers until a more suitable storage could be found. Hikari was surprised that the T.V actually picked up channels underground and in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile Roxas was limp on his bed, stuck in a uninterrupted sleep. He'd been down the minute he'd finished unpacking, which was understandable; it was pretty late at night according to his biological clock. The truth was that when they arrived in this world –wherever this world was- it was quite bright out, almost mid-day by the looks.

It was quite calm and quiet until Hikari received three heavy knocks to her door; actually they could be considered punches by the sound of them. When Hikari opened the door, she looked up at the figure that was on the other side. The third member of the Fateful, Aehxcilm, stood there arms crossed and with a look on his face like she had made him wait there all day. She could tell this would be one of the people she definitely wouldn't get along with.

"Get your friend and let's get moving, we don't have all day," he stated plainly.

"On it, but it wouldn't kill you to be a little more polite," she retorted sarcastically.

"Look here miss manners," he snapped in a louder tone, "I don't have to be polite if I don't feel like it, and you know why?"

"Why, oh why?" she said, keeping up a steady barrage of sarcasm.

"Because despite what anyone here says, I'm top dog! There's no way in hell Xelskyr and Xealx are stronger than me, and don't forget it either!"

"Right, right, you're the big cheese, I got it," she humored as she passed by him and knocked on Roxas' door. There wasn't a response after a few seconds, so she concluded he must be asleep.

"He's probably asleep in there."

"Damn kid," he grumbled.

"Move over, I'll get the bastard up."

He proceeded to kick the door down and jump inside, only to see Roxas still asleep. Even after his door crashed down to the floor and a fire wielding Nobody jumped into his room, he was still curled up under his covers with a slight drool stain on them, lightly snoring. Hikari had seen him like this before, quite frequently actually, and it never ceased to amuse.

Aehxcilm didn't quite find it as funny, and began trying to shake him awake. After a full minute and a half of violent throttling, Roxas was still down and out.

"You'll never get him up that way."

"Then what do you suggest then professor smartass!"

She just shook her head and sighed before making her way to the opposite end of side of the bed. She kneeled down, put her mouth to his ear.

"Roxas; Namine is eating your breakfast," she whispered.

No sooner did she finish her sentence did his head shoot up and he screamed, "WHAT!"

Hikari, who always found waking him up endlessly amusing as well, fell into a bit of a giggling fit. Aehxcilm, again, wasn't as amused and just started dragging the boy out the door by his collar. Hikari was still recovering as they walked down the halls of the base, doors dotting the wall leading to room of unknown purpose. The whole place seemed to be extremely elaborate and luxurious; Xelskyr really meant what he said when he said he paid no expense to deck this place out.

Several identical hallways and an elevator ride later, they were in a floor that completely contradicted the upper levels of the base. The walls and floor was bare metal with tons of computer equipment and terminals dotting the entire room. The room itself was nothing if not expansive, rivaling the lounge in size. It seemed to be some sort of control center or laboratory, what else could all the equipment be for?

"Good, you guys are on time," said a cheerful voice.

Both Hikari and Roxas looked over to see Xelskyr's overly hyperactive younger sister and the ninth member; Axnes. Axnes was busy staring straight into a computer and only grunted as a greeting, earning him a whap on the head from the blond next to him. Roxas hopped down to Axnes' computer and nosily tried to peek at the screen.

"What're you working on?"

"New explosive, my best yet I'd bet, and I'm almost done designing it."

"Wow, how long have you been working on it?" asked the curious brunette.

"About fifteen minutes; this one's been taking me longer than usual," he said casually.

"How long does it usually-" he tried to ask. He was cut off by Elkxyse holding up her hand.

"Just stop right there; it's bad enough I have to listen to him almost all day down here mumbling to himself about proper ingredient proportions, I don't need him having a lab assistant."

"Sorry," he apologized as he laced his fingers together around the back of his head; another trait of his fathers he picked up over time.

"No problem; anyway, this isn't why you're here, follow me. You can go Aehxcilm."

"Finally, I'll catch you douches later."

"Man I hate that guy," complained Roxas through grinding teeth.

"Everyone does, but don't let him get to you; it's like Nevax said, he's always like that. Again though, follow me."

They both nodded in compliance.

They walked through a sliding door which led them down a series of staircases that winded in a square shape along the walls. After proceeding through another door, they were now in what seemed to be a gym. It had treadmills, weight sets, varying workout machines, and a running track. The floor that wasn't the foamy rubber material of the track was covered in blue safety mats and the walls were the same bluish white metal they had seen in the control room and on their way down the stairs.

Another member was in the room with them, calmly sitting in the middle of the room, meditating by the looks of it, with a bladed staff on his lap. He noticed the trio enter the room and lightly floated to his feet, staff now leaning over his shoulder. The thirteenth member, Rhcxis; wearing his small, almost neutral smile was standing in the middle of the room.

"Good, you're here, admittedly I was getting a bit bored," he said pleasantly.

"So what are we doing down here exactly?" asked Hikari.

Elkxyse only smirked. "Rhcxis, you might as well hit it."

"Very well," he said again in his calm tone.

He raised his staff into the air; then slammed the tip of it into the floor. At first, nothing happened; then suddenly Roxas and Hikari slammed down onto the floor like Wakka had body slammed them both. They were both down on their stomachs, unable to move an inch; their hair was even matted down onto their heads.

"Wha-what is this?" asked Roxas, struggling to even move his jaw.

"This is just one of my abilities over gravity, friend. I've just increased the force of gravity in this room to ten times the normal force of the average worlds gravity."

"Why ar-aren't you g-guys affected?" he forced out.

"Because I have my own personal gravitational bubble, so I'm not affected, and Elkxyse has already gone through my training regiment, so she is all but immune."

"Yup, you guys need to get into shape and quick, so we're really going to be putting you through the ringer to get you ready fast. You'll be training here for an hour or so every day until you get used to the gravity, then we'll up it on you some more. When we're done you'll…well, be at least ten times stronger physically."

"I leave you to your victims Rhcxis, see you three in an hour!" she called while running up the steps.

Roxas gathered up enough strength to turn his head and look over at Hikari.

"Still g-glad you came w-with m-me?"

"Overjoyed," she croaked.

* * *

By the hours end, both Hikari and Roxas felt like their limbs had been ripped off then cooked on a barbeque grill. Hikari was wheezing heavily while resting against one of the treadmills. Roxas, she was pretty sure, was unconscious as he lay limp on the floor next to her, jacket and shirt discarded, bathing in a literal puddle of sweat. She knew he had always been in good shape, his occupation as keybearer demanded it, plus he was the only person on the islands faster than her. She was sure if even he couldn't handle the exercises, she was in trouble.

Overall she was surprised she wasn't unconscious as well, as they had spent almost half of their total hour laboring just to stand up. The rest had been spent trying to make their way around the running track _once_, which they even failed to do!

"Well, that's our hour for today, you're free to go," said Rhcxis, finally lifting the gravity magnification. Hikari instantly felt pounds lighter; unfortunately her muscles were still burning, and standing was out of the question.

"Finally, I was getting pretty bored just laying there."

Hikari looked over to see Roxas now standing up and brushing off his pants like he had just woken up from a light nap. He stretched his arms and back and let out a deep groan, "Oh boy, I'm gonna feel that later."

Hikari looked on in amazement; how in the world was he able to stand, they'd just spent an hour in ten times normal gravity.

"Come on; I don't know about you, but I could use more sleep," he said slipping on his jacket; his shirt was too drenched in sweat to be remotely comfortable.

"I don't think I can get up Roxas."

"Not a problem!"

He quickly bent down at her said picked her up bridal style. Even in his worn out and weakened state, he was more than capable of carrying his friend a good distance. Needless to say Hikari, possessing her father's sense of pride, was less than thrilled with the current situation. Of course whenever parts of her dad's personality would pop out, her mother's were soon to follow, it had always been that way. As of right now, it had occurred to her how strong Roxas really was.

He had just spent an hour under super-weighted gravity and he still had enough strength left over to carry her up a flight of stairs. She knew he was stronger than most people because of the fact that he was an accomplished swordsman and keybearer, but this was ridiculous. Seriously, he was on the verge of a six-pack.

She almost felt guilty when she realized she was blushing a bit. He'd only been her best friend since the beginning of time, what was she thinking?

'_Damn it mom, your rubbing off on me! I'm not going to be some cackling schoolgirl like you!_' She yelled in her mind, followed by a mental slap.

"You okay Hikari; you've got that look on your face like you're mad at something?"

She looked up to see Roxas with a mix of confusion and concern on his face.

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing," she reassured him.

"Okay, if you say so."

She was still a bit confused herself, but at this point she was too tired to really care much. In fact about half way up the stairs, she completely fell asleep. Her arms swayed limply as Roxas climbed the stairs, and she seemed to get even heavier.

'_Oh well, I guess it can't be helped; this better not become regular routine though, I'm wiped._'

Despite his sleeping best friend weighing him down, he continued his way up the stairs and back to their rooms. He was seriously regretting this whole situation, but then he remembered what Xelskyr told him before they left.

'_What'd you think this was going to be like, some train ride where you can get off and on when you please?'_

He hated to admit it, but the jerk had been right; this was the real world and whether he liked it or not, it was time to step up or step aside. For him, the choice was easy; he was whole heartedly stepping up. For him this wasn't just a test of his own abilities or a quest to fight the heartless; this was also about him trying to see if he could fill his fathers shoes. As far back as he could remember, everywhere he had gone, _someone_ knew his father. He really wanted, just for once, to be known by a name other than 'the keybearer's son' or 'Sora's kid'.

It wasn't just for that though; he wanted to protect the rest of his family too. He wanted to be someone Namine could look up to, not just as a big brother, but as a general role model. He wanted to be someone his mother wouldn't constantly worry about because she wasn't sure if he could handle himself. Most of all though, he just wanted everyone to know that he cared; that he'd go to the edge of the multi-verse for any one of them and back. That definitely included Hikari as well.

She'd been his best friends since before they were able to speak; she was as much family as Namine. Not only was she his best friend, she was his only friend. Ever since he could remember, she was the only person who could relate to him and his situation. His father being who he was had set him apart from his old friends on the islands when he returned; just as that same fact had set Roxas apart from the other kids his age. They weren't mean to him or anything, it was just that all the kids looked at him differently and treated him differently because of who his parents were except for one person; Hikari.

Hikari could relate with him because she faced the same problem, in some cases it was even worse. Because of whom _her_ father was and what he'd done in the past –something he had admitted to and faced long ago- she had also been treated differently, and in rare cases, even looked down on. That sort of adversity created a sense of camaraderie between the two, and they had always stuck with, and defended each other through everything.

Once he had gotten the keyblade though, he was afraid that they might drift apart because of his responsibilities and because he would be set apart from her the same way his father had been set apart from all the other islanders. He had to admit though, she had been incredibly supportive and understanding when it came to his… occupation I guess you could call it. Now he knew why too; she was just like him. She may have never used it, but she was a keybearer to, which only made Roxas feel like their bond had gotten stronger.

Maybe it was because he was her best friend, or maybe it was because he was simply grateful for everything she'd given him over the course of their friendship, but he couldn't understand how anyone couldn't like her. She was smart, if a bit of a know-it-all, funny too, if a tad too sarcastic at times, and she was extremely patient when she had to be. On top of that, she was beautiful; it wasn't just his opinion, it was fact.

Despite everything that made her different, guys still hovered over her at every opportunity, which admittedly, made him jealous. He would admit that he had once wondered if he could have been more than just her best friend. He quickly dismissed the possibility though; she was his best friend and after all they'd been through, it would have just been weird. Still, looking down on the silver haired girl in his arms as he opened the door to her room, he could help but hope, even if it was fools hope.

He lightly laid her down on her bed and slowly pulled the covers over her; she was a much lighter sleeper than he was. To be honest he was surprised she had fallen asleep on the way up, normally something like that would have constantly woken her up.

Without even thinking, he bent down over her and lightly kissed her forehead.

"Night Hikari," he whispered.

He wasn't sure if it was just a far off echo, or if his ears were playing tricks on him, but as he left, he could have sworn he heard a soft, "_Good night Roxas._"

He looked back at her again; she was fast asleep facing away from him; even snoring lightly.

"Nah," he shook his head and headed off to bed.

* * *

**Okay, there we go. Just a sliver of fluff at the end, a sample of what's going to be coming in later chapters. I hope everyone has been liking this so far. We're coming up on some really cool stuff in the next few chapters, including the first world they visit. **

**For a change of pace, I'm not going to beg for reviews this time. I'm a patient Nobody, I can wait.**


	8. Chapter 6: First Mission

The Fateful XIII

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 6

First mission

**Disclaimer: **I, of course, don't own Kingdom Hearts or Naruto. (yes, that's where they're going.) They belong to Square Enix and Masashi Kishimoto respectively.

**(A/N:** I'm giving another piece of praise to DearlyBeloved-13! Thanks for the favorite! I'd also like to thank ThiefRikku88 for giving a favorite to my one-shot **Breaking from the Dark**, a one-shot I put together last night. Thanks for reading you two!**)**

* * *

Two weeks past and went, and Roxas and Hikari had made good progress with their training. They had recently moved up another five magnifications in the gym, and Roxas had been tutoring Hikari on how to control the keyblade, a trying task to be sure. She seemed to catch on quick enough, but she still wasn't anywhere near as good as Roxas; though she was trying at least. Their improvement hadn't gone unnoticed by Xelskyr either, and decided it was time to see if they could hold their own or not.

The two keyblade wielders were currently in the lounge, enjoying a breakfast of instant oatmeal, courtesy of Nevax and his personal stash. They had recently been getting along well with most of the Fateful members; there were even times when they forgot they were Nobodies. Nevax always seemed to have an extra stash of food and was more than willing to share. Elkxyse seemed to be utterly attached to the two of them; she seemed to have all the free time in the world. Hyrxs had hit on Hikari a number of times in the two weeks, annoying her and the other members around him to no end. Even Axnes, who everyone said never usually left his lab, was hanging around the two of them.

In fact, the only person they still had friction with was Aehxcilm, but everyone kept on insisting that it was natural and he was like that to everyone. They weren't so sure though, but decided to take their word for it.

"Hey you two, long time no see!"

The two teens looked up at the brown haired Nobody in front of them. Xelskyr had a happy grin on his face and hopped into a seat across from them on one of the couches.

"Hey, where've you been for the last two weeks, you drag us here and then you just disappear!" complained Roxas.

"Yea I know I've been out of touch lately but I've been out on assignments so you'll have to forgive my lack of presence."

"What exactly have you been doing?" asked Hikari.

"Mostly just intelligence gathering, I've got a lot of contacts in a bunch of different worlds. Most of them haven't noticed anything, but a few of my friends have notified me of small heartless sightings, we'll be setting off as soon as you're ready."

"I'm ready now, let's hit the road!" shouted Roxas.

"Hold your horses now, at least finish your breakfast first, it's not like that world is going anywhere."

"But you said the heartless were there, and that the last world that had heartless was completely destroyed!"

"Just trust me, the informant there is an old friend and he's more than capable of defending the place, the guy isn't a sage for nothing after all."

"Oh cool a sage!"

"Yup, he's a sage. Oh, and Hikari, I'll give you a fair warning, the guy is sort of a pervert, he's always 'researching' for some stupid book series he's writing, so keep your guard up around him."

"If the guy is so messed up, why trust him as an informant?" she asked.

"Whether I like it or not, the guy is a great fighter; even if he is messed up, he _can_ be responsible, and he's got a lot on his plate right now so we should be glad he's even helping us at all. He's got a new apprentice that's annoying as hell and they're both apparently on the hit-list of a less than reputable crime organization in their world."

"Sounds right up our alley, how about it Hikari?"

"I don't suppose we have a choice now do we, we can't very well say no."

"Just finish breakfast and we'll be off. Normally I'd just send Hyrxs to check on things, but after those two perverts combined their thinking power…well…let's just say he's not allowed back there anymore. (A/N: that's a story for another day.) Anyway I figured that I might as well do things personally this time, ad this might be some good practice for you," he explained.

That was all the incentive Roxas needed, and he began completely shoving the food down his throat so they could get moving. Unfortunately for him, he finished a full three minutes before Hikari and spent that time harassing her to finish to they could leave. That is until Xelskyr got annoyed and flung his plastic bowl at him, effectively striking him over the head; then just ordering her to leave it so they could get going at shut the kid up.

After another trip through a corridor, which left Roxas and Hikari with a feeling of nausea like the first time they'd gone through the thing, they made it to their destination. Luckily, they didn't make the mistake of jumping in this time, and their exit was much more graceful than their previous one. Roxas, in his endless curiosity, started to survey his surroundings, and was wary of possible nearby heartless.

They were on what appeared to be a dirt path in a very thick forest, really thick. The trees were huge, and the leaves were the deepest green either of them had ever seen on a tree before. Down the road there appeared to be an extremely large wall around what could be a city or large town.

"So where are we exactly?" asked Hikari.

"Right now we're right on the border of the great village of Kanoha."

"Kanoha?"

"Yea, it's a village devoted entirely to the art and style of the shinobi, or ninja."

"Awesome, we get to meet ninja's!"

"Hold on a second, we're only going to be here a little while, I've got to speak with the village leader; she's another one of my informants here. Now come on, we should get moving."

A little ways down the road, Roxas remembered something that he thought he should bring up while he had the chance.

"Hey, I've got a question."

"Of course you do," he replied, sounding slightly annoyed.

"It's just that, my dad told me a thousand times that it's bad for people to know that we're from other worlds. Something about the world order staying in balance."

The Nobody just sighed. "Look, between the heartless, Organization XIII, and the dozens of other multiversal criminals, the world order was pretty thoroughly thrown off balance a long time ago. There are a lot more people who know about other worlds now than you think, and I've made sure to only associate myself with trustworthy characters. Trust me, we aren't going to do any irreparable damage by being here, just don't attract attention to yourself and we'll be fine," he explained.

"Alright, if you say so," he said, not entirely convinced.

Hikari decided it was probably a good idea to change the subject to keep them from any possible arguing.

"So, what kind of ninja is this other contact?" asked Hikari as they trekked down the dirt path.

"She's a medical class ninja, specializing in healing and evasive tactics, stuff like that. For your own safety though, just let me do the talking."

"Why?" inquired Roxas.

"Because I don't want you saying something stupid and getting her pissed off, despite her being a medic, she's still the strongest ninja in the village, so don't disrespect her," warned the Nobody.

"You don't have to worry about us, we'll be perfect!" he said excitedly.

"Right. Anyway, we'll just pop in and ask if she's seen anything, then we'll move on. Now just shut up for a second, we're coming up on the gate."

As they came up on the gate, Xelskyr was surprised to see that the usual gate guards; bandage boy and his buddy, were absent. In their place were two plain chunin in standard green vests.

"May we see identification for the three of you?" asked one of the chunin.

"Hold on, I got it somewhere," he grunted as he dug into his pockets.

"Ah! Got it, this should be enough."

The guard was looking over a green piece of thick paper with symbols on it that neither of the other two had seen before.

"Alright, this checks out, you're free to move about the village."

"Thank you."

On the other side of the gate was a huge bustling metropolis that seemed to be anything but a village. It might have been even larger than even Radiant Garden, though there was no real way to tell. Regardless it was still an impressive community, though the size wasn't what caught Roxas, eye. He was busy looking at all the ninja's.

They seemed to be from all age groups, he even saw a few that looked younger than him. There were so many different kinds of people there to, hell, he even saw a girl pass them with pink hair, _pink_! The place was amazing!

Hikari however, was focusing on the monument carved into the mountainside. It was an impressive feat to be sure, and she guessed they were past village leaders or something at least on those lines.

"Alright, if I remember the layout of this place correctly, the compound should be near the mountainside, so it'll be faster if we just take to the rooftops."

"Are we allowed to do that?" asked Roxas.

"Hell if I know, but it beats walking."

In one graceful jump, Xelskyr was already atop the building to their right, looking down on the pair. Roxas was barely able to make it up in one jump, struggling to climb up after grabbing hold of the edge of the roof. Hikari, who couldn't jump as high as either of them, had to jump up to the smaller building next to them, and then make another jump to meet with them.

Once they were all on the same level though, the trip was going much faster, as they were able to go right over many of the buildings instead of around them. It also gave them a much better view of the village, which took up much of Roxas' concentration. So much so in fact that he missed the blaringly large compound right in front of them, and Xelskyr had to hold him back to keep him from jumping straight off the building they were on.

"Is that it?"

"Yes, now come along kiddies, it's time to pay the great lord Hokage a visit."

Apparently there was a special protocol to follow in case Xelskyr ever showed up, because the receptionist already seemed to be informed that they were there. Now they were staring down the hallway that led to the Hokage's office. The entire building seemed to be made of a very sturdy wood and it had an aura of indestructibility around every corner.

"So do you know this Hokage person or something," asked Hikari.

"I met her about a year ago, a few weeks after she first took the title, so yes, I know her."

"Why would you need secret informants a year ago, I thought all this started a month or so ago."

"I have informants for just this sort of situation; it took quite a while to establish this network I've got. We may have tried to stay isolated, but we still wanted to stay in the loop," he explained.

"Anyway we're here, so like I said, just try and stay quiet and we'll –scratch that- I'll get out of here in one piece."

He pushed to two doors open and the trio entered the spacious room. It was a plain enough room with book cases on the wall as well as some potted plants, and the same wooden walls and ceiling as the rest of the building. The wall opposite the door was a huge window overlooking the streets below. In front of the windows was a woman behind the desk that was undoubtedly the Hokage herself.

The woman was moderately tall and had long blond hair tied back in two ponytails. She wore a green jacket and a grey undershirt, and had what looked like a purple diamond symbol on her forehead. Her skin was slightly pale, probably from the stress of her demanding job, and a less than modest chest.

"Long time, no see lady Tsunade," said Xelskyr with a slight bow.

She looked up and her expression was less than enthusiastic, but wasn't quite uninviting either. Never the less though, I could tell she was less than happy to see him here.

"Xelskyr, I'm glad you decided to come yourself this time, I wasn't particularly fond of the last operative you sent her."

"Don't worry, I've banned him from coming back here so don't throw a fit, I'm just here for business and that it," he assured her.

"I can only assume you're here on another heartless check up then?"

"You're half right; I am here about the heartless, but it's far from a check up," he said, his tone suddenly more serious.

She looked half perplexed and half worried, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"That last operative I sent met up with Jiraiya a few days ago, and he has confirmed multiple heartless sightings, though he didn't give any specifics; I'll be heading off to find him right after I'm done here."

"So what _are_ you doing here?"

"I'm simply here to see if you've noticed anything unusual, heartless or otherwise."

"Nothing other than the routine missions, it's been pretty quiet here."

"No heartless then?"

"None that I or any of the patrols can see; there've been no out-of-the-ordinary reports and no missing citizens."

"What about those Akatsuki guys, they been around at all?" he asked next.

"No, they've been silent and inactive for quite some time as well, we haven't even seen much of Orochimaru lately either," she reported, surprise and concern mixing in her voice.

"Well, just keep your guard up concerning the heartless, and watch out for the Akatsuki as well, they might not be as serious a threat as the heartless, but they can still be a serious monkey wrench in things," he said with an only half there expression, like his mind was on something completely separate.

"It's good that things are peaceful at the moment, but remember, it could mean a multitude of things, it could mean everything really is fine, or it could very well be the calm before the storm," he stated gravely

"You don't have to tell me twice, I'll keep all Kanoha shinobi on the look out, but so far there's been nothing close to a heartless anywhere near the village."

"Alright, I'll probably dispatch one or two of my people out here for a few days, just as a security measure. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go meet up with the pervert, I'll see you later my lady," he said, his sarcasm returning near the end of the sentence.

"Oh, cut that crap out."

"Touchy, touchy," he teased as he created another corridor.

"Alright you two, get going," he said turning to the two teens behind him.

"Are they new members of that organization of yours?" Tsunade asked.

"Something like that, it's a pretty complicated story, but they are working with us for the time being."

Then he pointed back at Roxas. "And if this kid is anything close to what Jiraiya is dealing with, I pity the man."

"What are your names? Anyone who can get on Xelskyr's nerves is a friend of mine," she asked, laughing a bit.

"I'm Roxas and that's Hikari," responded Roxas, stepping forward a bit.

She just smirked. "Roxas and Hikari hmm? Well, just make sure to give this guy as much trouble as you can for me."

Xelskyr glared back at her.

"Just think of this as payback for that vulgar idiot you sent here last time. Now, don't you have a perverted sage to find?"

"Yea, come on you two, move it," he ordered.

"Nice meeting you lord Hokage." Hikari said politely before rushing through the portal.

"Yea, and don't worry, I've got no problem giving this jerk trouble!" Roxas exclaimed before running through the portal after Hikari.

Xelskyr just stood there and sighed while rubbing his temples.

"I hope you're happy; that kid is gonna be the death of me, I just know it," he complained.

"You never know Xelskyr, fate has a funny way of working," she said as he stepped through the corridor and it closed.

* * *

**WOOOOOOO...mysterious last words! Does Tsunade know something I don't, or is she just trying to get into my head. I don't know! Anyway, I hope that wasn't too bad. I would also like to point out that this takes place in between the two in a half year time skip, just to avoid confusion. **

**Next chapter we meet up with our favorite blond and his perverted master, so there's two things to look forward to. **


	9. Chapter 7: The Toad Sage

The Fateful XIII

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 7

The Toad Sage

**Disclaimer: **I don't own kingdom hearts, yadda yadda yadda. You know the drill.

Alrighty now! With what is becoming somewhat the norm now, I'd like to give my thanks to Forgotten in Darkness, for subscribing to this story. You have my praise! It's nice to know I have some loyal readers, and to everyone who's been reading this so far, I salute you!

This chapter is more of a filler/introduction and I apologize, but the next two chapters will make up for it, I promise. We finally meet up with Naruto and Jiraiya! That's right Narutards, I haven't forgotten you! Enjoy this small taste of shinobi goodness.

* * *

Another nauseating trip through a dark corridor later, they were now in a small hotel room by the looks of it. It had wooden walls, two beds, and a dresser; the standard fare. There were bags and clothes laid out, but Jiraiya wasn't anywhere to be found; to be honest it wasn't that surprising. Knowing the perverted sage, he was probably either peeping at the baths or hitting on girls at a bar, he wasn't all that hard to track. In fact, it was a miracle the guy wasn't dead already, seeing how his movements were with all the grace of a herd of rhino's.

"Well we're in the right place, he's just not here, but I'm sure I know where he is. You two stay here and wait, I'll be back in a while."

"Why can't we help you look?" asked Hikari.

"Because I already know where he is, so just sit here and keep watch out, remember he's got an apprentice too, and he'll probably be back soon as well."

"Fine, just hurry up," whined Roxas as he flopped down onto one of the beds.

"I'll be sure to do that," He retorted sarcastically.

Before the argument could be continued, Xelskyr disappeared into darkness and was gone.

"Well…I'm bored," complained Roxas.

Hikari could only think one thing, '_oh boy.'_

* * *

Xelskyr first tried the local bars; plenty of people saw him, but he hadn't been to any of them in a few hours. Damn; only Jiraiya would drink in three different bars before noon. That only left one probable destination; the baths. Luckily most of the bars were relatively close to the baths so it wasn't even that much of a walk.

After half an hour of walking around through bars and then to the bath, he saw the perverted silver haired hermit kneeling on a high branch over the bath's walls with a long spy glass and an stupid grin on his face. His apprentice; the blond protégé, was nearby sparring with a clone of himself, apparently used to his masters antics by now. Poor guy.

"You never do change, do you Jiraiya!" he called up, surprising the hermit and causing him to fell straight to the ground.

"Who dares to disturb the Great Toad Sage's research!" he shouted, still on his back and rubbing his head.

'_Dear god, I'm starting to side with Hikari here; why the hell do I trust this guy with anything,_' he thought to himself.

His blond apprentice rushed over to his fallen master. "Pervy sage, what's going on?"

After finally getting up, Jiraiya was able to recognize Xelskyr on the spot.

"Ah, I was wondering when I'd see you!" the sage exclaimed.

"I _was_ busy with my research, but I can put it off for a while. I've got a room at a local inn, we can talk there," he explained, regaining his balance and nursing the bump on his head.

"I know, I sensed your charka residue and went there first. I saw you weren't there so I left the two newbie's behind there."

"Newbie's?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

The Nobody sighed, "Yeah, let's just say you're not the only one who's taken on an annoying student. Now, let's get moving."

Suddenly the blond shinobi interjected, "Hey, I'm not gonna ask again, who the hell are you and how do you know the pervy sage?"

Jiraiya landed a hard pound to the back of his head and shouted, "Show some respect Naruto; this man is the leader of a very powerful organization and is very closely tied in with both I and the Hokage!"

"Flattering Jiraiya, really, but we have to go," he explained as he opened a corridor after making sure no one was around.

The hermit quickly scooted back. "Oh no, no way, you know how I feel about those dark corridors of yours! I'll walk back, thank you very much!"

"Oh, don't be such a wimp; just suck it up and get in there," he said impatiently.

He sighed with a defeated look, "Fine, but in compensation, you're going to help me with my research one of these days."

"Just get moving."

Jiraiya inched toward the flowing corridor of dark energy and eyed it suspiciously like it was going to jump out and attack him. He sucked in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and dashed in. Naruto did the same, but showed less fear when walking through, and Xelskyr finally followed. On the other side, which was back in the room Jiraiya and Naruto had rented, they returned to Hikari sitting against the foot of the first bed and Roxas laying on the second bed throwing shuriken into the ceiling.

"Roxas, what the hell are you doing?" Xelskyr sighed.

"I'll tell you what he's doing, that jerk is fooling around with my gear!" shouted Naruto.

"What, I was bored," he calmly defended.

Steam was practically shooting out the blonds ears. "So that gives you the right to go through my personal weapons?"

Xelskyr sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Why didn't you try to stop him?" he asked Hikari.

Hikari put her hands up in innocence. "I learned a long time ago to not get in his way when he's bored; it only leads to trouble."

If Xelskyr wasn't a Nobody, he was sure he'd be feeling a swelling lump of regret right now. Roxas was more trouble than he was worth at the moment, and the fact that he would probably spend the whole time arguing with Jiraiya's apprentice wasn't helping the matter.

"Alright Roxas, get those shuriken out of the ceiling, Hikari, come over here."

"You to Naruto," waved over Jiraiya.

The four of them huddled on the floor around a map that Jiraiya had laid out with several red 'X's marked on it. It seemed to be a world map of all the different nations.

"So what exactly are we looking at here?" Xelskyr asked.

"This map is a record of all the confirmed heartless sightings I've been able to compile."

"So what does this circle stand for?" he asked, pointing to the tiny circle a small nation north and slightly to the west of the Land of Fire.

"This, my friend, is an area that seems to be a cluster of heartless activity; there've been so many sightings there that I'm guessing something must be going on."

"Where exactly is this compared to where we are now?"

"We just happen to be exactly in the center of the circled area. That's the whole reason we even came here, to investigate all these sightings," he explained.

"So what kind of investigation strategy was I witnessing two minutes ago?" the Nobody retorted sarcastically.

The sage instantly grew beet red in face, "N-never mind that now; the important thing is that I've found the source of all the happenings that's been going on the last few weeks. I suggest that we search the surrounding area to see if we can't find anything unusual."

The Nobody sighed and got up from his cross legged sitting position, "Well I wish I could stay and help, but I've got to visit a few more contacts elsewhere. Hikari, Roxas; stay with Jiraiya and follow his orders, he's in charge of this operation. I'll send someone to help by tomorrow, see ya," he said his goodbye as he stepped through another dark portal and was gone.

Jiraiya stood up as well. "Alright, the faster we get moving, the faster we can find out what's going on here. This will most likely be a dangerous mission, so I suggest we each travel in pairs to cover each other. Naruto, you take the girl, I'll take along…Roxas was it?"

He nodded, "That's right."

"Right then, Roxas and I will check the north and east sides of the area, you two take the south and west. Naruto and I already have a signal in place for if or when we find something."

The three teens nodded and paired up. Jiraiya and Roxas leaped off to the south, while Hikari and Naruto headed north. Roxas felt a swell of adrenaline and excitement as he embarked on his first real dangerous mission since obtaining the keyblade months ago. Hikari was just hoping the training she had been able to squeeze in was going to be enough incase they ran into trouble. If they did run into enemies, there wouldn't be any room for mistakes, and once they were in the forest, there was no turning back.

* * *

**Okay, maybe I shouldn't have dumped Roxas and Hikari on Jiraiya like that.** **In my defense though, I never wanted them to come along in the first place, they're just extra help! Okay...I don't mean that. They both show a lot of potential, I just don't like babysitting duty.**

**Once again, I'm sorry about the short length. This is actually the shortest chapter so far I think, but the next chapter introduces something new! The story's first (drum roll)... FIGHT SCENE! That's right, the heartless make their first appearance next chapter, WOO HOO! It was a slow start, I know, but the next two chapters have nearly _all_ action, and they really push the plot along. This is where the true story begins to unfold.  
**

**Another wonderful little snigglet of information; the super awesome Main Antagonist will be making his first appearance next chapter as well! Are you as excited as I am? Let's just hope Roxas doesn't get his ass kicked too hard. This is one hell of a bad guy!  
**


	10. Chapter 8: Introduction to Destruction

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 8

Introduction to Destruction

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Naruto! Square Enix and Masashi Kishimoto do. I also don't own that chapter title, it's named after a Sum 41 song. I thought it would fit the chapter well enough.

I **do **however, own the Fateful XIII, the multiple upcoming fight scenes (YES!), and my original plot within these two universes.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:**** I have a poll on my profile that I would like all readers to vote on, it will decide the next few upcoming worlds that will be featured. Just my little way of giving you some input on how this whole train ride goes.** **I've also got some behind-the-scenes material(so to speak)** **on the creation and future plans for the Fateful XIII. **

* * *

It had been well over an hour since the two keybladers had set out with their ninja companions. Jiraiya and Roxas were still searching the southern sector, but so far, not even one heartless had shown itself. The forest was pretty dense, nothing compared to the one Roxas seen when he'd first gotten here, but still impressive.

That being said, he found it odd when the trees just suddenly stopped and it led to a small, circular clearing. At first glance it looked like a normal clearing, but Roxas was able to notice a few oddities.

First off, the entire clearing just looked too…perfect; too orderly. The border surrounding the treeless area looked very symmetrical; it was literally a circle clearing. Another thing he noticed was that the grass was neatly cut, and the ground was completely level. It just looked to perfect to be natural.

'_The whole place just looks weird, but this is the kind of thing we're looking for right?_' he thoughts to himself.

He debated whether or not it was a good idea to jump down from the tree and investigate up close. His curiosity and his common sense were waging a war in his head, and in a completely obvious outcome, his curiosity won out. He reasoned that he'd never know if there was anything good down there if he stayed up in the trees…so he jumped.

Jiraiya, who noticed the boy's movements, and had been a ninja long enough to know that being in an open clearing while in a potentially hostile zone was a very bad situation to be in, moved to try and stop him.

"Roxas, what are you doing?" he called out.

Of course he wasn't really even listening, he was preoccupied with this strange feeling he was getting from the clearing. He wasn't sure why, but he could just tell there was _something_ coming, _something _was wrong here. What it was, he couldn't put his finger on. All he knew was he felt something extremely powerful nearby.

Just when he decided to turn around and meet back up with Jiraiya, a barrier rose up around the clearing, cutting the teen off from the rest of the surrounding forest. He started to bang on the field with his fists, but it wouldn't give. To make matters worse, the ground around him was immersed in blackness and Heartless clawed their way out. In a matter of seconds he was backed into a corner facing at least a hundred neo-shadows.

Roxas had faced these things a million times before, but never in these numbers. They were closing in by the second and Roxas would have to act fast if he wanted to have a chance of getting out of this. He immediately summoned his keyblade into his right hand; the Oathkeeper.

Two of the neo-shadows leaped up at him. Roxas ducked under the first one's swipe, then twirled around and slashed through the second's stomach in mid-landing. He then quickly twirled back around and decapitated the first heartless, sending the dark particles into the wind. He turned about face and glared determinedly at the mob of dark creatures.

"Is that all you got? Come on, at least make me break a sweat before I wipe you all out!"

As if they could understand his taunts, another dozen leaped at him, claws extended. In response, Roxas held out his keyblade and shouted, "Firaga!" All the attacking heartless were incinerated upon contact with his flaming shield, and their numbers were now down another twelve heartless.

"Alright, now it's my turn to go on the offensive! This is one of my favorite moves and I think I've finally nailed it; tell me what you think!"

Putting all his weight forward and pulling back his keyblade, he rushed forward and performed the Sonic Blade technique. In under a second he had slashed his way into the center of the hordes of heartless, destroying at least twenty more enemies. After the first slash, he continued with three more identical slashes, and eliminated over half the heartless in the process.

In the treetops behind the barrier, Jiraiya watched in silence as the kid fought off the small army of heartless.

'_Hn; the kid's definitely talented, of course from what I can see, he's also got a sense of self-confidence that could rival Naruto. Hell, maybe in time those two could be friends; it would do the kid good to find a new rival to replace Sasuke.' _The hermit thought to himself.

Backing off again, Roxas surveyed the remaining heartless. They had been significantly reduced in numbers, and seemed to be retreating back to regroup. Roxas re-entered his fighting stance; his legs wide spread for balance and his keyblade held in front of him to handle the frontal assault that was sure to be coming any second now.

Sure enough, the last few dozen heartless all jumped him at the same time to which he responded to by jumping straight back at them, readying his keyblade to slash through the first heartless he could find.

Jiraiya meanwhile, threw a kunai with a modified paper bomb into the air and detonated it. The sky was suddenly filled with a giant glowing symbol of a phoenix that was visible for miles.

* * *

On the northern end of the forest, the phoenix was still visible, if less noticeable. Despite that though, it didn't stop Hikari from seeing it through the leaves. Realizing Hikari was no longer following him, Naruto backtracked to the branch she was staring into the sky on.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Does that mean anything to you?" she asked, pointing at the flaming symbol.

"Oh! That's Jiraiya sensei's signal, they must have found something!"

Hikari's eyes lit up, "Finally; I've been waiting to see if all this training had paid off!"

"Come on, they might need help!" he called, already a few branches down.

"Right behind you!"

* * *

After some mid-air dodging and weaving, along with more than a few violent slashes, only a handful of heartless were left standing from the hundred or so that had attacked only around three minutes ago. They seemed to get the message that their strategy -or lack there of- wasn't working for them. Roxas was readying for another assault when the heartless just retreated, and the barrier dropped.

"Huh? What's that all about?"

This wasn't like the heartless at all, they didn't usually retreat.

'_That's weird, I've only seen heartless run away when there's…something stronger nearby,' _he thought frantically.

"H-hey, uh… Mr. Jiraiya, I think something big is on the way!" The toad sage had already made his way down to the ground and was making his way to his younger partner.

The sage gave him a skeptical look, "What makes you say that?"

Roxas immediately went into something he liked to call his, 'heartless expert' mode, "The heartless just retreated, and they only do that when there's something else stronger in the area, or if someone calls them back. Heartless have about the same amount of intelligence as a dog, they run on mostly instinct, so for them to actually retreat means there's something nasty on the way, or whatever's controlling them is here. Either way, things are probably going to start heating up pretty soon."

Jiraiya was about to respond when he was cut off by the sound of a lone applause. They both looked up to see a figure standing on a high branch leaning against its trunk, still slowly clapping. Roxas was close enough to take in some details of the new arrival.

He was clad in a black, sleeveless trench-coat that reached down to his ankles with a hood that was currently up, obscuring his face, and no undershirt. He also had a pair of tattered and ripped black jeans and a dark red belt looping around, along with a pair of deep purple shoes. Roxas also noticed he had a necklace around his neck that seemed to be in the shape of the old heartless emblem. It was the 'old' heartless emblem because for years now the emblem heartless that had been used by both the Organization and Maleficent, had been extinct.

(A/N: Just to make sure everyone is on the same page, heartless are split into two factions; emblem and pureblood heartless. The emblem heartless are basically all heartless except for shadows, neo-shadows, possessors, and darksides.)

The newcomer leaped and slowly levitated downward, softening the impact down to the equivalent of a soft step once his feet contacted the ground. He made a few light steps forward but stopped a good distance away and stared him down. Roxas couldn't actually see his eyes, but he could tell, just like when he first met the Fateful members, that they were locked on him.

"Very impressive Roxas, that was an extremely informative display," he said calmly and slowly.

"W-who are you, how do you know my name?" asked Roxas nervously. He couldn't explain why, but this guy utterly and completely terrified him out of his mind, it was insane. Staring into the shadows that veiled his face seemed like he was looking into an endless, dark void; like the person in front of him was the very essence of every fear he'd ever had in his life.

He just calmly ignored him and kept talking, "I see you've already made friends with Xelskyr and his pitiful band of Nobodies…such a shame. You have such talent you know."

"Hey, I asked you a question, who are you?" he asked again with fake confidence.

Seemingly able to read his mind, he easily retorted, "Oh please, don't act brave and heroic around me. You're completely terrified, it's as plain as day. You're right to fear me though; if I wanted to I could annihilate you both with hardly any effort at all, but I won't of course."

Every sentence sent a colder chill up the young brunettes' spine and he just barely managed to choke out another question.

"W-why not?" he asked, the fear much more evident in his voice now.

"A number of reasons, though boredom is, and always will be, the most prominent. I've been bored for quiet some time and I needed something to do to stave it off, and the only person who's been capable of that is Xelskyr. He's not exactly what you call a party person though, so I had to…bait him out," he said in his constant monotone voice.

"S-so you're the one w-who's been responsible for all these heartless?"

He laughed a little, mostly to himself, but it was within earshot of Roxas.

"Yes, I suppose I've unleashed my heartless on more than a few worlds as of late. As I said before though, I had to bait out Xelskyr; he wasn't willing to play my game on his own, so I merely forced his hand. If a few meaningless lives had to be taken to draw him out, then so be it."

"Is that all this is to you?" a voice shouted from behind Roxas.

The boy turned his head and saw Jiraiya with a hardened face and cold eyes staring down the shrouded figure.

"Is that all this whole thing is to you, nothing but a game to be played, reset, and started over?" he shouted again.

The figure simply laughed softly again, his voice staying low and calm even though he was obviously amused with their discomfort.

"It is true that I consider this a game, in fact, this is a game if you think about it. However, when playing a game, is there not always an objective, hmm? Make no mistake, this is not a senseless slaughter, I do have a goal to achieve, but what fun would it be if I achieved it without really earning it? Then, of course, I thought who better to play against than my old friend Xelskyr," he explained calmly, laughing a little more after his sentence was finished. "Of course, you Roxas, are just icing on the cake."

"So what is your goal?" asked Jiraiya, who had taken over questioning since Roxas seemed all but incapacitated at the moment.

"If I told you…well, that would take away from the fun of the game. You see, I won't kill you because I want to see if you can figure out just what I'm trying to do. Then, if you're clever enough, you might even try and stop me, though I seriously doubt you'll get that far," he mused.

"I am quite interested in you though, Roxas. You show a surprising amount of talent and skill for someone your age, and somehow I get the feeling that those heartless didn't do you justice. I'd be honored if you would meet me in Radiant Garden in one week so I may truly measure your skills."

"W-why Radiant Garden, and why in one week?" he spat out nervously.

"Because, Radiant Garden has an abundance of space, along with the sentimental value regarding the heartless; and I want to give you time to train and prepare. To add extra incentive, if you agree to this little exam, I'll remove the heartless from this world completely," he offered.

"If I r-refuse?"

"I suppose I could massacre this world and everyone in it, but I believe I'm a bit more creative than that," he said as he slightly stroked his chin.

Then he suddenly snapped his fingers, "Ah, I know; there is always your younger sister."

It was at that moment Roxas lost all control and blindly charged the stranger with the Oathkeeper ready to slash him to pieces. As he closed in and swung the blade, his swing was suddenly stopped. There was no clank of another sword, no squish of his blade contacting with his flesh, it was just stopped. Then he realized why.

The figure before him caught the blade in mid-slash with his bare hand. As far as Roxas could tell, he hadn't even moved at all save for the arm he had used to defend himself. Then with one jerk of his arm…he broke the blade in half. There was no fragmentation, no shards in the air; it was a clean, even break.

"Naughty, naughty; we can't have you playing around with such a dangerous weapon; you could have hurt someone," he taunted as he pressed the severed blade against Roxas' neck.

"Don't worry, it'll repair itself given some time, but for now, I can't have you attacking me," he said slyly.

Unknown to both the figure and Roxas, Jiraiya had both his hands behind his back performing a series of hand-signs. He would have to time this perfectly to avoid harming Roxas as he attacked their new adversary.

'_Just a few…more…seconds,'_ he thought to himself tensely.

"Roxas jump!" he shouted.

The boy didn't need to be told twice, he jumped up and back, away from the stranger, and the upper half of his keyblade.

"_Doton: Yomi Numa!_" he shouted. (A/N: Earth Style: Dark Swamp)

Suddenly the ground beneath the dark stranger transformed into a murky goop that instantly swallowed him up and pulled him down underneath. Jiraiya smirked; whoever that person was, he was now slowly suffocating under his Dark Swamp Jutsu. Roxas looked in shock and awe at the pool of gooey slop, and then at Jiraiya.

It was quiet for a few seconds as Roxas continued to stare at the swamp, then the silence was broken as a huge bubble appeared in the center of the pool. In continued to grow until it simply became too large and exploded, and with it came a massive surge of pure dark energy. The entirety of the muck was sprayed into the air and splattered all over the surrounding area. It was sent too high up in the air for either Roxas or Jiraiya to be hit with the goo, but a small sprinkle of the stuff made its way onto their clothes.

They didn't even notice it however, as both their eyes were locked on a familiar dark figure calmly walking out of the now vacant pool of muck.

"Sneaky, very sneaky; that was a unique attack to say the least, but at the same time, it was quite annoying. I'm afraid you'll just have to leave," he said, even now keeping his calm and collected tone.

He slowly raised his hand and pointed his index finger at Jiraiya. A concentrated blast of dark energy shout forward, trained on Jiraiya's head. The sage quickly sidestepped and vanished from sight, as the blast collided with one of the trees behind him and completely obliterated it.

Though his movements were too fast for Roxas to keep track of, the stranger could easily see Jiraiya darting around and behind him.

"Annoying old man," he muttered under his breath.

As he whispered that to himself, Jiraiya re-appeared behind him and had a Rasengan in his right hand. In response, the stranger rammed back his elbow as Jiraiya closed in, impacting his chest and blowing the sage back into the tree behind him. For a moment both Roxas and his combatant thought Jiraiya was down, but that thought was proven wrong when 'Jiraiya' exploded in a plume of pinkish smoke. At the same instance, the real Jiraiya came out from underground in front of his opponent, also with a Rasengan in his hand.

Before he could do anything to counter, Jiraiya rammed the spinning ball of charka into the strangers chin, using the Rasengan in an uppercut attack. Roxas couldn't really see what was going on because the amount of dust and dirt being kicked up obstructed his view. As the cloud died down though, he saw that the dark figure was still in the same place he was when Jiraiya attack him, but his face was forced upward, suggesting the attack had at least a minimal effect.

Jiraiya however, could see in detail what his attack had done as a whole. The area in which his attack collided had torn the skin and the entire area was raw, but there was no blood or obvious serious injury. He also noticed that the attack had blown back his hood, and his face was now partially visible, just enough to see a small smirk growing.

"That looks fun," he said sarcastically, "can I play?"

His right fist started to pulsate with dark energies and it glowed a deep purple mixed with black. Jiraiya moved to dodge backwards but by the time he had, the glowing fist had already plowed into his stomach. The silver haired sage shot backwards into -and blew straight through- several trees before skidding to a halt a good distance outside the perimeter of the clearing. The stranger took the time to put his hood back up and Roxas never got a good look at his face.

Just as the stranger took a step forward, a high pitched whistling noise filled the air and grew louder. He raised his left hand up and diverted a kunai off its path that was originally meant for his head. Instead it flew past him and into another of the surrounding trees before exploding and taking out most of the trunk.

"Hey there ya jerk! How about you try taking me on?" yelled a voice from the same direction as the kunai came from.

He turned to see a blond shinobi in a black and orange jacket and pants, as well as sporting a similar but simpler headband as his last opponent. To his right, there was a pale blue-grey haired girl ran over and kneeled down next to Roxas.

"Who, may I ask, are you?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

"The names' Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage and ninja extraordinaire!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

An amused smirk formed on his shrouded face, "Hmph, perhaps this will provide some temporary amusement; very well Mr. Uzumaki…you have the first move."

* * *

**Figures...the second I leave that idiot alone he runs into an insane antagonist. Now, I'm sure there's a lot of questions in your head right now. Something like, "How does this guy know Xelskyr?", "Who is he?" or, "What are his real motives, or is he really just that insane?", or "Where did he get those powers and how can he control the heartless?" As much as I'd love to answer your questions, I can't, that would take away all the fun! You'll find out eventually though, don't worry.  
**

**On Another Note: YEA! Naruto and the big bad guy are gonna duke it out one-on-one! Naruto's going to be pulling out all the stops next chapter in the battle, and you know what that means right? It means I'm talking about the almighty tailed forms. That's right, demon chakra is coming into play here people, the awesomeness can't be stopped! **

**As always, I'm desperate for reviews, or any other kind of feedback. The more feedback I get, the more motivated I'll be to write chapters, which means I'll be able to keep up my daily updates. At this point though, it looks like update times are going to be slightly slower soon, I'm running out of pre-written material. You don't have to worry about me abandoning the story or anything though, I wouldn't dream of killing this thing off.**


	11. Chapter 9: The Lord of Demons Unleashed

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 9

The Lord of Demons Unleashed

**Disclaimer: **I think you guys know by now that I don't own much on this page. All you need to know is that Roxas, Hikari and the bad dude are with me.

Alright guys, this chapter is pretty much the best one so far, so take it in while it lasts! This is where every ounce of action you missed out on in the beginning is made up for! This chapter is non-stop action-packed extremely violent fighting from beginning to end! Who will win; The Lord of Demons, or the Mystery Combatant? Who knows, read and find out!

(A/N: I would recommend playing some super action-packed fight music, it'll help the mood.)

* * *

Naruto smirked and leaped off the tree and performed a hand-sign. "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_ he shouted as seven clones poofed into existence.

The seven clones plus the real Naruto surrounded the stranger and charged him from all directions. He just laughed a little to himself as he dodged every single strike with ease. He didn't even need his arms, as they were folded behind his back. Kicks and punches and counterattacks all meant nothing in the long run, all Naruto was doing was wearing himself out. Seeing that the clones weren't helping, he dispelled them and jumped back.

'_Damn it, this guy's fast! If I'm gonna deal some damage I've got to step it up! What do I do, what do I do!' _he thought frantically.

His opponent could practically feel his nervousness. "What's the matter Mr. Uzumaki, tuckered out already?" he taunted.

He just smirked back. "Not a chance, there's no way your that lucky!"

He laughed in response. "I admire your spirit Mr. Uzumaki; this will most definitely be an amusing game."

"Heh, a game I plan on winning!" he shouted as he charged forward with two kunai in one hand and four Shuriken in the other.

He threw the two kunai first, followed by the four shuriken behind them. The stranger easily kicked the two kunai aside, and blasted the four shuriken away with a small burst of dark energy. Through the smoke of the explosions, two more kunai came flying at him, then poofed in the familiar pinkish smoke, transforming into two more clones.

As they flew at him, they formed a swirling, glowing, orb of energy between them. It looked quite similar to the last technique that Jiraiya had used on him, but on a larger scale.

'_Hm, let's see what this technique can do.'_

They thrust the ball forward. "Take this! _Odama Rasengan!"_

At the same time, the stranger brought up a hand to block the attack and test its power. The first few seconds didn't seem to be making any impact at all, but eventually he began to struggle a bit against the force of the ball of chakra. Honestly, this surprised both party's.

When the jutsu finally wore off, both clones poofed out of existence and the dust began to clear. He looked around and Naruto was gone, and he was alone for the moment, except of course for a disarmed Roxas and a preoccupied Hikari. He could sense the blond coming at him from above, but decided to humor him and let him think he was ambushing him.

"Yoo-hoo, up here ya bastard!" called out the shinobi.

_'I think it's time I moved this game to the next level.' _The stranger thought to himself.

He looked up to see the blond shinobi with a standard Rasengan in his right hand. Right before his orb was able to make contact; the stranger shoved his left hand straight into the orb and blew it apart. Then pulled him down and slammed him into the ground, effectively pinning him with his foot. Naruto struggled to get free, but he couldn't break the grip.

"I sensed it," he said, leaning over him slightly.

"Sensed…what?" he grunted.

His mouth curved into a grin. "I sensed that wonderfully murderous darkness within you; a separate entity from yourself that lusts for death and feeds on dismay. I must apologize Mr. Uzumaki, but I feel that this game will be much more enjoyable if I were to play against someone with a similar motive for combat. I hope you understand."

With that, he plunged his free palm over the seal on Naruto's stomach, using dark fire to burn away the fabric of his jacket and shirt. Just the contact with the seal was enough for him to sense the marauding darkness thrashing inside, just waiting for a chance to escape. He was going to give it what it wanted.

Naruto's stomach was overcome with darkness as his hand literally plunged into the seal. The blond could feel the prison weakening, the bars disintegrating inside of him, the fox making its move on his desperate state. His eyes had already turned red, his nails sharpened, and the red shroud was forming. After just a second one tail had formed, then two tails, then the third.

The fourth tail was about to overtake him when the surge suddenly stopped. He looked up long enough to see that the man above him had been struck by something, and was pulling his had out of the seal. While his opponent's attention was on whoever it was that had distracted him in the first place, he took a foot hold on his tailed form.

When he was sure he could hold onto the demon chakra, he shot up and was on the stranger before he could even react. He landed a solid punch on the strangers jaw, and blew him back into a row of trees until he landed a good half mile away from where he was attacked. With the aid of his demon speed, Naruto was right behind him the entire way, and pounced on top of him and unleashed a flurry of punches.

After three seconds, and about sixty punches later, Naruto was blown into the air by a shockwave. His hooded opponent appeared in front of him and delivered a two handed slam to his forehead, driving him straight into the ground. The impact caused a plume of dirt to shoot into the air.

Immediately after, Naruto launched himself back into the air, a demon red Rasengan in hand and screaming in rage like crazy. When the Rasengan and a darkness enhanced fist collided, the sky lit up in a red and purple explosion, creating a darkening effect in the forest for miles. When the light returned, Naruto was already being drilled right back into the ground, and was being beaten down in a second crater. With one last heavy punch, Naruto was unconscious and his red shroud dissipated, and the hooded figure calmly walked away.

* * *

(A/N: I'm rewinding the time for a second to the point where Naruto is just about to start the second part of his fight in his three tailed form. Just to give you Hikari and Roxas' point of view)

"…and then he punched out Jiraiya, and that's when you showed up!" finished Roxas. He'd been explaining what had happened right up to the point where Hikari and Naruto had shown up to bail him out.

Then they heard a grunt and their attacker speaking to Naruto. The two had been going one on one for about two minutes now and it looked like Naruto was pretty much pinned. They were talking about something then suddenly the figures hand, from the looks of it, went inside Naruto's stomach, which made both _their_ stomachs lurch.

"Hikari, do something!" Roxas shouted.

"Like what?" she retorted.

"Ugh, give me that!" he growled in frustration as he wrenched the Threshold of Light out of her hands.

He whipped it back at threw it like a buzz-saw. It cut through the air and nailed its target right in the jaw, knocking him off balance just enough to cause him to pull has hand out of Naruto's gut. Then Roxas and Hikari just watched in awe as Naruto proceeded to punch out the guy that Roxas couldn't even manage to land a blow on. Soon both of them were gone, but the battle could be heard like it was right next to the two of them.

Then an explosion erupted in the air that eclipsed the sun and darkened everything around them, it was amazing and frightening at the same time.

"Should we help him?" asked Hikari.

"Nah, I think at this point we'd just be getting in the way," he said as he listened intently to the battle raging in this distance.

* * *

(A/N: we're back in regular time now right after Naruto got knocked unconscious.)

All was oddly quiet around the crater where the blond shinobi lay unconscious; of course, things were anything but quiet inside Naruto's mind.

**(Naruto's inner world)**

The stinky sewers that made up Naruto's mind winded in front of him as he calmly walked to the source of all the red chakra; the fox's chamber. For most people it would be a foreboding sensation to be surrounded by such an aura of malice, but after entering his inner world dozens of times, it was business as usual for him. He wasn't so much afraid of the fox or his chakra, just what he might end up doing while under its influence. That was one of the reasons why he was probably going to hate himself in the morning for doing what he was about to do.

The fox's chamber was the largest room in his inner world; that he'd seen anyway, he never really like to spend more time in here than he had to. It was bare for the most part, but it was hard to miss the massive prison cell with the glowing red eyes behind the bars. Closing in on the bars, he could start to see his sharp, white, teeth.

"Back again, eh kit," he said in his demonic tone.

"Shut it fuzz-ball, I'm not here because I want to be, I'm here because…well…I sorta need your…help," he mumbled the last part of the sentence with an annoyed pout on his face. Of course with that super fox hearing, he heard the plea and laughed triumphantly.

"I knew you couldn't resist kit."

"Shut up, like I said, I'm only here because I can't even touch this guy on my own, and frankly even the three tails didn't help all that much," he spat back.

"I know; this man, whoever he is, has powers not of this world. I suspect that at maximum capacity, he is even slightly more powerful than if you were using four tails."

"Then how am I supposed to beat him?" he shouted in frustration.

"Easy; he's overconfident and his guard is down, and using four tails, you still have a good chance of victory."

"No way, I'm not using four tails! It cuts at my life span and on top of that, you take control of my body! No way, no how!" he yelled as he backed away a few steps.

The fox's grin grew bigger and the silhouette of one of his paws being raised could be seen in the darkness of his cell.

"Too late kit, I don't take to defeat kindly. If you can't defeat him, then I'll just kill him myself," he said as the red chakra enveloped the blond.

"Ready or not, here I come."

* * *

As the hooded figure walked away from the crater, he felt the air suddenly get heavier and darker. There was a sickening taste of bloodlust in the breeze, and it was emanating from the crater. The trees around him started to wilt and die, and the grass became a dark brown. Next the ground began to quake, and cracks began to form all around him. He slowly turned to the crater, awaiting his opponent's imminent return.

In an instant, a column of blood red demonic energy sprang up from the crater and turned the entire forest red for as far as anyone could see. The wind whipped in all directions and began uprooting the surrounding trees. Meanwhile, he just stood there with a growing smirk; this was what he was waiting for.

As the energy and the wind died down, the clouds of dirt and dead leaves obscured everything within the crater. Then out of nowhere a blood red hand shot out of the cloud and wrapped its finger around his entire body. It extended to the length of over half a mile, smashing him through trees all the way along. Then it whipped right, leveling the foliage and smashing him into tree after tree. This continued until they had gone in a complete circle, then he was thrown up into the air.

Following him up was a new figure. It was a mixture of black and blood red skin, long pointed ears, and glowing white eyes; it was truly an intimidating sight. It twirled horizontally and brought another extended hand down, slamming him back down into the ground. The hand stayed there and pinned him to the ground, and he couldn't see anything past more flying dirt.

Through the plume he heard what sounded like a muffled explosion; then the sound suddenly got much louder… much, much louder. Suddenly the entirety of the dust was blown aside by a huge beam-like blast that was speeding towards him at extremely high velocity. Time seemed to slow down as it closed in on him; it was like watching the sun slowly come crashing down. It grew brighter and brighter until everything was just white all around him.

Meanwhile, in the air; Naruto's four tailed state, with his body currently being controlled by the fox, was slowly drifting to the ground after a successful Strong Ball attack. The blast radius had reached to almost a quarter of a mile, and as far as he could see or smell or even hear, there was no trace of the man left at all. Still, a closer investigation would be prudent.

Mentally whipping away the dust and dirt, the newest crater was completely devoid of activity. Nothing moved except for the few wisps of dust left, and the dying leaves in the wind. It was almost too motionless for him to have been destroyed; there should have been _some _remains. A tattered piece of cloth, a charred appendage, there just had to be _something._

Then he heard it. "You never do cease to amaze Mr. Uzumaki. Every time I think I have you, you come back with something better; this has been a very entertaining game. A game, I am sorry to say, must now come to and end."

There he was; the hooded figure that had been putting his host to shame. Examining him further, he noticed that he had almost no trace of damage at all. His cloak was a bit ripped and tattered around the edges, and it was covered in dirt, but other than that, he was completely unharmed. That didn't make sense, the Strong Ball should have at least severely injured him enough for a killing blow, yet there he was.

"Goodbye Mr. Uzumaki," he said as he disappeared suddenly. He re-appeared to his left, and then disappeared again, the appeared again to his right and in front of him, then again behind him in front of him and above him. His speed gained until the man was moving so fast that hundreds of after-images of his movements were being created simultaneously. The wind swirled around him, creating a small tornado around the fox controlled blond.

Then it stopped, all the after-images disappeared and the dust began to slowly drift back down to the ground.

Up in the air however, there was still chaos. While the fox was trying to pinpoint his location, his opponent was preparing one of his own heavy hitting attacks. A giant black orb formed in his raised hand; one with a black and purple exterior, with a red and purple core. (A/N: Think the giant orb that swallowed up Destiny Island in the first game.)

"Now you die," he said to himself as he launched the orb downward.

The huge disturbance in the air caught the fox's attention and then noticed the large orb coming down at him. He quickly prepared another Strong Ball attack, gathering the charka with the help of his tails into a ball, swallowing it whole. Soon after, he felt the explosion in his bowels, and opened his mouth to unleash the force of the raging demonic chakra.

When the exploding beam collided with the orb, the result surprised the fox, as the orb just drove its way straight through the Strong Ball, losing no velocity against the friction of the beam. When the orb finally hit the core of the beam, the resulting explosion was twice the size of Naruto's Strong Ball attack he had used just a minute ago. The black energy exploding outward devouring everything in its path, and everyone within any number of miles of the attack watched in confusion and fear as it continued to grow in size.

* * *

Back in Kanoha

The Fifth Hokage was silently enjoying the breezy day atop her compound, when she felt a foul presence hit the air. Looking to the horizon in the north, she saw a small black cloud. Something told her this had something to do with her organization friend and those two kids. Needless to say it probably wasn't good.

"Lady Tsunade, what is that?" asked Shizune.

"I'm not sure Shizune, but whatever it is, we definitely don't want to be caught in the middle of it. As soon as it's gone though, I want a team to investigate. Xelskyr said to look for anything suspicious, and that qualifies."

"Right, team Gai is free, I'll dispatch them right away, it'll take at least two days to travel that kind distance. I'm sure by the time they get there it'll be over."

Tsunade nodded. "Good, I also want double patrols around the village; I'm not taking any chances."

"Right away Lady Tsunade," Shizune complied.

'_Xelskyr... what did he get himself into?'_ she thought to herself as she made her way back to her office.

* * *

The explosion -after almost two minutes- finally died down and all was quiet again. Naruto lay in the center of the crater battered, bruised, and utterly bloodied. The crater was easily a mile in a half in diameter. The Strong Ball had exploded right in his face along with the other attack, and he was now unconscious again, but this time, the fox wasn't even making any noise. They were both out of it.

Meanwhile, the hooded figure was now hovering above the downed blond, debating whether he should end his life or not. He decided on the latter, and left him in the crater until he woke up, or bled to death. Either one would do.

Though it didn't show, the fight had left him a bit sore and a little aching. His arms and legs stung when he moved them, and there was a headache forming. He still wasn't sure exactly what kind of transformations the blond had gone through, but his last form had by far been the most impressive. Given a few more years of training, he would most definitely be worthy of fighting him using his full power.

For now though, he was done with this world; he had found out what he wanted to and had no more reason for him or his heartless to stay. With a snap of his fingers, he sensed all his heartless warp away; then he to, disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

Roxas was rushing through the devastated wastelands in the aftermath of Naruto's battle with whoever it was that attacked them. The whole time he'd been wondering who won, who would be find still standing when he made it down the crater. The whole fight had been a spectacular sight, like two titans clashing. It sort of put into prospective just how weak he was compared to everyone he'd met so far.

He thought he was decently strong, but in the last twenty minutes, he'd seen just how strong his allies; and even his enemies were. That was when it occurred to him that this wasn't just some random heartless rampage, there was really something bad on the horizon, and it fell on him to stop whatever that crazy nut-job was trying to pull.

Right after that, it occurred to him that Naruto was right in front of him. He was lying limp, puddles of his own blood dotted the area around him, and he was severely cut up. He ran over and slid down next to him.

"Hey, Naruto, Naruto, come on, are you even conscious? Damn…come on then," he said, hefting the blond over his shoulders and slowly carrying him away.

While he was checking on Naruto, Hikari said she'd go after Jiraiya, and then they'd meet up back in the village if they didn't meet up on the way. He suspected Jiraiya was in much better shape than sleeping beauty over his shoulder.

He had to admit, the guy was a lot lighter than he looked, of course, the training he'd been doing was probably helping to. Even so, they were a good few miles outside the village, which was going to take even longer with Naruto weighing him down.

'_Ugh, his is gonna be a long walk…today sucked.'_

* * *

**Yes people, you read right. Our boy Naruto, the number one hyperactive knuckle headed ninja, got his ass handed to him on a silver platter. The Nine Tailed Fox couldn't even help him! Do you see how badass this villain is now, do you see his POWER? Four tails worth of demonic chakra is thrown his way and he walks off with a headache!**

**As usual, review are requested and appreciated. Also, don't forget the poll I have on my profile, that'll make writing the rest of this story much easier. Thanks for reading everybody! See ya tomorrow!**


	12. Chapter 10: A Keybladers Nindo

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 10

A Keybladers Nindo

**Disclaimer: **Does anyone out there honestly believe I own Kingdom Hearts or Naruto? Seriously, because I'd like to meet them and hit them upside the head.

So last chapter had a lot of fighting, and i loved it, but this chapter is a bit more tame. Basically it's Roxas learning a bit about Naruto. It might seem boring compared to the last chapter, but it's still important and I think you'll like it all the same. If you don't...well then there's not much I can do for ya. Read on!

* * *

When Naruto woke up, he had a _huge _headache and was aching all over, to the point where he could hardly move. He moved his neck a little and looked over to his left and right; he was back at the inn. He saw Jiraiya sitting on the other bed, a little bruised, but up and about.

"Hey kid, how you feeling?" asked the hermit.

"Like…crap" he croaked out.

He laughed a little. "Not surprising, you went into four tailed mode and still got your ass kicked. I suppose it's a miracle you're even alive."

"I watched the fight…from inside my own head. It wasn't pretty."

"Like I said, it's not surprising."

The blond took another look across the room, and noticed that two people were missing.

"Hey, where'd the other two go?"

"You mean Roxas and Hikari? Well, Hikari is getting some extra bandages and other medical equipment I asked her to run out and get, seeing as we've used most of it on you. As for Roxas, I'm not exactly sure what he's up to."

He just rolled over in his bed, he tired and worn out, he'd worry about everything else later, now he just wanted to lay back and relax.

* * *

Meanwhile, out in the back deck of the inn, Roxas leaned over one of the railings looking at his broken keyblade. The once graceful white sword was now missing the top half of its blade. He could feel its pain, its sorrow. When it broke, he had felt it; like a chilling pain in his heart, and it was still there somewhat, though with every passing minute it faded just a little more. Perhaps that was a sign that it was repairing itself.

He couldn't stop replaying the fighting over and over in his head. Even with all his training, all his confidence, he still managed to be defeated in one move. Then there was Naruto, the blond ninja. Where in the worlds did he get that kind of power? Sure he was defeated too, but he put up one hell of a fight; he fought toe-to-toe with that guy.

Compared to what he could do, Roxas was nothing more than a novice. Then he remembered the fight he had been challenged to; how was he going to be able to do that? He was so screwed. He almost found himself wishing Xelskyr was there; he may have been a jerk, but he always seemed to know what to do.

"So how are you holding up?" asked a voice from behind.

He turned his head slightly and saw the silver haired hermit standing behind him. He had suffered from a few cracked ribs and a pretty banged up back, but nothing too serious.

"Alright I guess, shouldn't you be looking after Naruto though?"

"He'll be fine, he's a fast healer and as stubborn as they come; it'll take a lot more than one insane villain to kill him," he laughed.

He walked to the ledge and leaned on it with Roxas, both of them staring out at the line of trees and the people waking through the streets.

"I've got a question." Roxas started.

"What were the powers that Naruto used in the fight back there?" he finished.

"Actually...Yeah."

The sage sighed and stood straight, but remained at the brunette's side.

"Naruto has a very complicated past; to put it in simplest terms, there's a being living inside him that is of highest caliber of evil. He contains it and keeps it from hurting people, but at the same time, its power and influence sometimes seeps out, as you saw earlier," he explained.

"Wow…must be tough; living with the burden of keeping people safe like that."

"There are very few people who could understand just how large that burden is, and how much pain it's put him through. The village of Kanoha, I think you've been there, right?"

"Yeah, we met the Hokage there, but I didn't see much of the actual village."

"Well, that village was both my own and Naruto's home. That place gave Naruto the bulk of his troubles in the regards of being a container. They feared him because of what he was carrying with him, and that fear led to violence and mistreatment."

"Man, that's rough. I don't think I could've dealt with something like that."

Roxas really did feel sorry for the guy, he could sort of relate. While he'd never been feared or attacked because he had a keyblade, he did feel alone and left out sometimes. They both had something in common; neither of them were really normal kids. They both had responsibilities that kept them from living the way other people did. Roxas didn't mean to complain, but being a keyblade master was hard sometimes, especially now.

With that, he pushed off the railing and walked off to the main lounge.

"Where are you going?" called Jiraiya.

"Don't worry, I'll be back!" he said as he walked out the door.

* * *

Naruto was awake when Roxas got back. He was lying on the bed with his hands behind his head and a dazed look on his face. Of course his head perked up when he caught scent of what Roxas was carrying over to his bed. The brunette set down two large white and blue bowls, each with tin foil over the tops to keep in heat.

"Is that ramen?" asked Naruto with some drool already dripping from his mouth.

Roxas threw him a pair of chopsticks. "Yep, just picked it up, thought you might be hungry. I got us both pork, hope you don't mind."

A fox like grin grew on the blonds face. "Nah, all ramen is good in my book!"

He quickly undid the foil and started to slurp loudly, relishing the taste of his favorite dish.

"So…how did you…know I like…ramen?" he managed to squeeze out between mouthfuls.

"When I was rummaging through your stuff I found a mound of the instant stuff under your clothes, so I figured you must like it," he said after gulping down his own mouthful.

"Well thanks then."

"Just my way of paying you back for saving our butts back in the forest."

At the mention of the battle in the forest, his mood seemed to drift downward a bit.

"I still lost, even with that stupid fuzz-balls help," he mumbled to himself.

"You mean that demon thing you have living in your gut?"

Naruto's expression then changed from disappointment to a mix of fear, anger, and confusion.

"How do you know about the fox?"

"Well between what I saw during the fight, and what Jiraiya explained to me, I was able to piece it together. I gotta say that it was pretty freaky, but pretty cool at the same time."

"So…what did Jiraiya tell you?" he asked.

"Basically it was a crash course of your life…it takes a lot of guts to do what you're doing. I don't think I could handle having a demon living inside me, I think I'd crack under pressure."

"It's not easy. He's always looking for chances to get out and escape. He almost did when that guy had me pinned."

"Huh, well I guess it's a good thing I hit him upside the head then," he laughed.

"That was you?"

"Yeah, just a lucky shot is all; I wish I could've helped you more, but by the time I'd regained my composure so to speak, you'd already started fighting a good distance away."

"That one strike was enough; if he'd gone on with what he'd been doing he would have completely released the fox and then we'd really be in trouble."

Roxas gave him a light punch on his shoulder. "Ah, don't worry about it; you can handle that fuzz-ball."

"Ha, tell me something I don't know."

They both started laughing.

* * *

The two spent the next two hours talking; Naruto told stories about his training, missions, and about his first master; Kakashi. In turn, Roxas told his own stories about his family and life on Destiny Island. Of course all of this was done between ramen runs, which had occurred quite frequently thanks to Naruto's huge appetite. By the time the evening had arrived, the two knew a great deal about each other.

The sun as slowly creeping under the horizon in the distance, and the weakening sunrays shone in the dim hotel room; giving everything they touched a bronze glow.

"So…you're leaving tomorrow right?" asked Naruto, staring out the window from his bed.

"Well, the heartless are gone and we definitely found something worth reporting, so ya, we are."

"Oh well, we'll meet again."

"No doubt," agreed Roxas.

"Of course; it's a promise, and I never go back on a promise, it's my nindo."

The brunette cocked his head in confusion.

"Nindo?"

"Yeah, it's sort of like my personal code of conduct."

"Oh, I get it. Maybe I should have my own nindo; it'd be like a lesson in morality," he laughed.

"That's not a bad idea."

"Really…well I'll think about it, I should be able to come up with something by tomorrow."

"Just remember, it's got to be something from the heart, something you know you'll do no matter what anyone says or does," he explained.

"Right, well I'll see ya later; I'm gonna go lay down, maybe think a little. Besides, you could probably use more sleep."

As he said that Naruto stretched and yawned.

"Yeah, I'd say your right."

He rolled over and got comfortable, and Roxas quietly got up and walked out the door to the room across the hall. It was pretty much the same room except everything was on the opposite side. Hikari was already lying on her bed, not asleep, but just lounging.

He flopped down on his own bed and stared at the ceiling as he was thinking. Something he would do no matter what, huh? Well, there were plenty of possibilities, but nothing really stood out to him.

"What're you thinking about?" asked Hikari.

"Hm…oh, I was just thinking about something Naruto and I were talking about," he said with a 'half there' tone.

"Oh, well, I don't want to interrupt this rare phenomenon."

"What's that?"

"You thinking," she said without missing a beat.

"Hey, I think plenty! You're just never there when I do."

"Settle down, you know I'm just kidding. I know you're a smart guy when you have to be."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Enjoy the rare compliment while it lasts."

"I'll be sure to do that."

She rolled over in her bed and he took it as an opportunity to return to his thinking. What would be a good nindo? Well…let's see, what was important to him? There was always his family, and then there was Hikari, the islands, and his quest, whatever it was at this point.

That was a start, now all he had to do was form it into something philosophical...to be honest he was surprised he even knew what the word 'philosophical' actually meant. He knew that he wanted to protect his family and the island, and he knew he was dedicated to being a good keyblade master. Maybe that would be his nindo; to get stronger and always protect his home. Yeah, that sounded good; getting stronger was always good, and to protect the islands was why he was here in the first place. It was settled then; that was his nindo.

Of course, the events of the day had gotten to him more than he thought, and he was asleep before he knew it.

* * *

Roxas peeled his eyes open, and bright sunrays hit his eyes, causing him to cringe in the bright light. As he pushed himself upward, he rubbed his eyes with his free hand. He looked over at the other bed, Hikari was gone which meant it was probably later in the morning. He got out of the bed and smoothed out his jacket, it had gotten a little wrinkly overnight.

He made his way down the hall and into the main lounge. Nobody there; but he could see Hikari and Jiraiya out on the deck eating breakfast. Once he slid open the glass door, he could hear the ending of their conversation.

"…and that's how the third book ended," he finished.

"Oh, hey Roxas," greeted Hikari.

"What were you two talking about?"

"Nothing important, anyway, how did you sleep?"

"Well enough, what time is it?"

"I'd say somewhat past noon," responded Jiraiya.

"You're quite the heavy sleeper," said a much calmer and stoic voice.

Everyone tuned to see Xealx standing on the other end of the deck, arms crossed and eyes lazily staring into a space somewhere near the trio, but not at them. He slowly walked up to the three of them.

"Xelskyr wanted me to personally help you with your search. Have you found anything of interest?"

"You have no idea; Naruto and Jiraiya almost got killed!" exclaimed Roxas.

"We need to talk to Xelskyr as soon as possible," added Hikari.

"He'll be back at the base later today; I'll create a portal for you to return back to the lounge and you can wait for him there. I also have orders to stay here with you for the next few days to check on heartless movement."

"I doubt it's necessary, but it's a welcome precaution none the less," said Jiraiya.

Then Roxas remembered something he had to do before he left.

He ran back up to Naruto's room; he was still asleep. Instead of waking him, he borrowed a piece of paper that was on the dresser and grabbed a pencil from Jiraiya's bag. He scribbled down a message for Naruto; hopefully he'd forgive him for not saying goodbye personally.

Once he was done, he placed it on the blonds' nightstand.

"See ya later buddy."

After that he hurried back down to the deck where Xealx already had a portal opened and was casually leaning against a railing.

"Okay, I'm all set, we can go."

"Alright, thanks again for all your help master Jiraiya."

"Not a problem at all Hikari," he smiled.

"Oh, and don't worry, next time you stop by I promise to have the first few volumes with me; you won't be disappointed," he whispered.

"Thanks," she whispered back.

"You coming or what?" called Roxas.

"Yeah, yeah; I'm coming."

"Well, see ya later Jiraiya, and Xealx."

"See you two later; try to stay out of trouble," the sage warned.

With a smile, they both walked through the corridor and disappeared from the world.

* * *

About a half an hour after Roxas and Hikari left, Naruto awoke with much less pain. All his wounds seemed to have healed and he felt like a million Ryou. As he stretched and yawned, he looked over at his nightstand and saw a piece of paper with some writing on it. He picked it up and read it, it said:

_Dear Naruto,_

_Sorry I can't say goodbye to you in person, 'duty calls' and all that. I just wanted _

_to say thanks again for all the help, and wish you luck with your shinobi career. Don't _

_lose hope, you'll be Hokage someday, I know it. Anyway, I just thought you deserved to _

_know that I came up with my own nindo after all. I've decided that my nindo will be to _

_always grow stronger and protect my home. I hope I get to meet up with you again soon, _

_until then though, watch out for the heartless and don't take any crap from that walking Nine _

_Tailed throw rug. See ya again soon!_

_-Roxas_

_P.S: I know Jiraiya will probably explain this to you this later, but I think I should tell you. It's _

_probably a bad idea mentioning this particular incident to anyone. It'd be better if this _

_whole thing just remained top-secret. Thanks man!_

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the note, but he was glad that Roxas had his own nindo to follow. It was good, and he knew that Roxas would follow it, from what he said, his home was everything to him. Naruto hoped he got stronger too; he wanted to fight him someday.

He took the note, folded it, and stuck it in his bag. He could live with this one adventure being a secret, he'd had plenty before it, and he'd have plenty after. At least he got a new friend out of the whole ordeal. Now he had to turn his attention to another pressing matter…lunch.

* * *

**And that concludes the Naruto arc. I hope I did alright; I wasn't sure about some parts, but I thought it came out well overall. To put your thoughts at ease, this probably won't be the last time we see Naruto; he and other anime/manga superstars along with some other well known figures will probably appear multiple times before the story is over.**

**_note to self: Never EVER, let Jiraiya near Hikari EVER again! I will NOT have more of his perverted literature on my base! (I was bad enough when Hyrxs brought it back the first time.)_**


	13. Chapter 11: Get your Ass in Gear!

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 11

Get your Ass in Gear!

**Disclaimer: **I'm not feeling dedicated today, so I'll just lay it out and say once again that I don't own Kingdom hearts.

On a more inspiring note however; I got two reviews within ten minutes of each other...this is a big deal to me! I thank both riku118 and Michael Torres for the reviews. Now both reviews came with valid suggestions, and I feel i should make my thoughts clear on these subjects.

First, riku118 suggested that Hikari should have a darker personality. To answer this I must point out that she is a much more upbeat person because she hasn't gone through the same hardships as Riku, and she has much of her mother's (Selphie) optimism. He/she also suggested I should draw my characters. I hate to break it to ya, but I my writing abilities completely offset my other artistic abilities. I have the drawing skills of a fourth grader.

Secondly, Michael up there suggested that I include the world of Bleach in my story. To put your mind at ease Mikey, it's definitely a consideration, and is most probable. (I'm a big Bleach fan.)

Sorry about the lengthy A/N, don't let me keep you. Read on!

* * *

When the pair of teens exited the corridor, they ended up right back in the main lounge. They looked around to see if there was anyone nearby. There was; Becxal –who finally decided to put his hood down-, was sitting in a corner reading. Meanwhile, Nevax was rummaging through his personal mini-fridge and bringing out multiple ingredients for whatever he was going to eat. Roxas got curious and wandered over to the counter across from the red headed nobody and looked on at the crazy concoction he was creating.

"What exactly is that Nevax?" asked the brunette.

"Oh, hey Roxas; well since you asked, it's a mashed potato, chocolate pudding, French fry, butter, and pickle sandwich," he said casually. (A/N: I know; I get grossed out every time he eats that crap to.)

"Is that lunch or laxative?"

"It's not that bad, it's actually quite good if you give it a chance," he said, waving the disgusting looking sandwich in his face.

"Thanks, but I'll stick with normal people food."

"Hey, variety is the spice of life my friend. Anyway, how'd your mission go?"

The memories of the entire fight from yesterday were coming back to him in waves.

"It wasn't pretty; not quite as easy as we hoped. We might have found out something really important though, so we're just waiting for Xelskyr to get back."

"Well as far as I know he and Hyrxs are out on information gathering missions and probably won't be back until the end of the day," he said with a mouthful of his Frankenstein like sandwich.

"Well, I'll see ya around; I'm gonna go do…something."

Walking down the halls, he wondered what he was actually looking to do. He'd only spent two weeks here, and while that was good enough to know how to get around the base, he wasn't sure how he could spend his free time here. Of course he knew where Axnes and Elkxyse would be; the Ops Lab, but he wasn't much of a scientist so he'd probably just be in their way. Becxal wasn't much of a talker so he was out, and he definitely didn't want to stick around with Nevax while he was creating more abominations to the human taste buds.

Xelskyr and Hyrxs were off the base, but frankly, neither of them were his favorite people anyway. Aehxcilm was definitely not a possibility; he was probably his least favorite person…well, ever. Rhcxis was probably meditating, and he'd learned early on it wasn't a good idea to interrupt him.

Eventually he just decided to get in an elevator and move up to the top level. The top level was actually just the top surface of the plateau; and he'd gone up there once before and liked the view.

He pressed the button for the top floor and the doors closed; thankfully there was no lame music in the elevators. He wasn't exactly sure how they pulled it off, but the elevators in the base seemed to be able to get anywhere else in the base as long as there was an elevator door there. It continued to baffle him, and even Elkxyse said she didn't know, saying that Axnes was the one who designed and built the upper floors, and that included the elevator system.

When the speakers gave a computerized beep indicating the elevator had arrived at its destination, the doors slowly slid open and a nice breeze hit his face. The sky was cloudless and the sun was shining, it felt like a summer's day back on the islands. He also noticed something else; there was someone up here already. Moving in closer to the edge of the plateau where the figure sat, he saw the light brown -almost blond- hair and remembered it was Venxdi.

"Hey Roxas," she greeted without even looking back at him.

"Hey, what're you doing up here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. If you want to know though; I'm sketching the landscape; I get the best view from up here."

He looked over her at the drawing; it was surprisingly life-like. The shading was incredible, and if she took the time to color it, it would be one of the best drawings he'd ever seen!

"Wow, that's _really_ good! How'd you learn to draw so well?"

"I've just always known; my somebody was an artist, or at least was aspiring to be one," she said, still half absorbed in her drawing.

There was a bit of a silence filled only by the breeze and some unknown bird chirping in the distance. Roxas took a seat next to her and let his legs hang over the edge.

"Hey, I asked Xelskyr once if he remembered his somebody, and he said you guys don't like to talk about them because you don't want to be like Organization XIII, he said he doesn't want war, only to be left alone."

"Yes, and?"

"Well…I guess I just want to know why you guys are helping us at all if you wanted to be left alone."

For the first time since I sat down, Venxdi put down her sketchpad and sighed.

"Look Roxas, all I feel comfortable telling you at the moment is there's a lot more to Xelskyr than people think. In a way, he thinks helping you is his responsibility."

"Why is that," he asked, even more confused.

"I won't tell you everything, it's not my place; Xelskyr will tell you when he has to. What I will tell you is that it goes back to before he formed the Fateful, a long time before any of us ever met him."

She grabbed her sketchpad and got up from her seat. She looked down at me with a smile that almost looked sad; it almost seemed to have emotion behind it if you looked hard enough.

"I'll see you around," she said as she walked back to the elevator.

"Yea, see ya."

After she was gone, Roxas still sat on the edge of the plateau; thinking.

* * *

Back down in the lounge, Hikari was sitting on one of the large couches. She went back and forth between watching Becxal read and Nevax scarf down his monstrosity of a sandwich. She wasn't exactly sure where Roxas had wandered off to; she just hoped he wasn't getting into trouble. She decided it was probably a good idea to go look for him, he was probably annoying someone or touching something he wasn't supposed to by now.

She walked down the halls which, for some reason, all looked pretty much the same. She passed a bunch of empty rooms and one or two of the members rooms, but she hadn't bumped into anyone so far. Until of course she saw Venxdi walking down the next hall over. She quickly ran down the hall to catch up with her.

"Hey Venxdi, have you seen Roxas anywhere?" she asked her when she was close enough.

"Yea, he's up on the top level, just head to any old elevator and it'll take you up there."

"Oh okay, thanks."

After talking with Venxdi she began searching for an elevator. It was easier said that done; the entire base was like one giant labyrinth. A few minutes of looking payed off though, as she finally found one and pressed the button for the top level.

Once she heard the elevator make a _thump _sound, she knew it had come to a stop. The doors opened slowly and the breeze hit her face almost instantly. She took a few steps out and could recognize his white jacket right away. He was sitting slouched over the edge of the plateau, just staring out into space by the looks of it. The view, even from where she was standing, was incredible; the plains, the mountain, everything was visible from up here.

She walked up behind him and took a seat next to him, letting her feet dangle over the edge as well.

"Hey, what're you doing up here," she asked him.

He was silent.

She waved her hand in front of his face. "hey, anyone home?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Hikari. Sorry, I guess I was just thinking a little to hard," he said scratching the back of his neck.

"You've been _thinking _a lot lately, what's up?"

"It's just...I think we might have gotten in a little over our heads here."

Hikari just leaned back and sighed.

"Of course we are, we've been in over our head since two weeks ago but that didn't stop you then."

"That was before yesterday when all my fighting skills were blown out of the water," he said with a nervous laugh.

"I mean, I didn't even land a hit on that guy; he just broke Oathkeeper like it was nothing and that was it," he continued with a slightly more depressed tone.

They were both silent for a while, neither of them doing anything except looking out at the landscape in front of them. Hikari finally decided to speak up again.

"So what were you talking to Naruto about yesterday, the thing you said you were thinking about?"

"Oh, I asked him what a nindo was, and he said that it was like a personal code of honor. His was to never go back on a promise, so I decided to make one to."

"Have you thought of one yet," she pried.

"Yea."

"...Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well what is it, what's that nindo thing that you came up with?"

"Oh, it's to always try to get stronger and protect the islands."

When he looked back at her, she was giving him an annoyed glare. Which was her signal for, 'you just did something stupid, now fix it or else'.

"What I do?"

"You're 'code of honor' is to get stronger and protect the islands, yet you're sitting here on your butt whining about how you got beat! That's so hypocritical it's not even funny!"

"But I-"

"No, you don't get to talk yet! Here I am busting my butt trying to make up for all the times I could've helped you but didn't, then you go and decide that you're giving up because suddenly there's someone stronger that you? That's pathetic," she said, practically yelling now.

"I don't know what you're going to be doing, but I'm gonna be training my ass off so the _next _time we meet him, we can plow that bastard into the ground! You're the one whose always been the confident leader, the one who'll go through an army of heartless to save somebody, what happened to that guy?"

While all this yelling was going on, Roxas just sat as still as possible, trying to give his friend as little incentive to scream at him more as possible. He felt as though he was five again, getting yelled at by his mother for doing something stupid.

"Besides, don't you remember all the stuff your dad and my dad did when they were our age? If they could do it, so can we!"

Suddenly her voice got much calmer. "Your dad always said that you were better at this stuff than he was at your age, and I've been learning a lot from you teaching me. I don't think you realize how easy you make all this stuff look. You're really _really_ good."

She looked up at the clear sky and leaned back a little farther. "I remember the first time I saw you fight the heartless, and couldn't believe how cool you looked. The times I watched you fight were the only times I really wanted to be a keyblade master...I guess in a way I really just wanted to be like you."

She slipped her hand on top of his and squeezed lightly. "What I'm trying to say is...I have faith in you."

Roxas just sat there in a dumbstruck state. He'd known Hikari long enough to know that when she blew her top like that, she meant whatever she said completely. What amazed him more though, was the fact that she said she had faith in him, she almost _never _said something like that straight up. She'd always layer it with sarcasm or yelling; if was one of her first actual compliments toward anyone...ever.

Roxas held his hand out in front of him and summoned the Oathkeeper. The magical white blade as completely repaired, it was back to its former glory. With that new information, he scooted back and stood up.

"Where are you going?" asked Hikari, a little frustration still in her voice.

"Are you gonna spar with me or what?" he asked back with a smirk.

Hikari's mouth curved into a smile and she leaped up and summoned her own keyblade. She stood across from him and got into her fighting stance.

"I won't be holding back this time," he informed her.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," she shot back.

With that they both leaped forward at each other, and their blades clashed.

* * *

**FINALLY! This chapter was a bitch to wright. It took me a good while to hit my stride, but I think it turned out pretty well. It had some nice little tidbits in there. Like Venxdi hinting at some of my past and Hikari kicking Roxas' ass back into gear after his manly pride was bruised.**

**Also, I know I've been absent the last few chapters, but I'll be back in the next one! (I know you all missed good ol' Xelskyr.)**

**Keep the reviews coming, because for every review you don't submit, another heartless is born. We don't want that now do we?**

* * *


	14. Chapter 12: Got it Memorized?

Fateful XIII

Chapter 12

Got it Memorized?

**Disclaimer: **Once again, I don't own kingdom hearts. If I did, Axel wouldn't have died; he's a sarcastic guy, and I can appreciate good sarcasm. Of course if he didn't die, then this here chapter would be moot.

Sorry about the wait, but I can't keep up the daily updates. I want to take my time with the story, and one day just isn't enough time to put this all together effectively. I hope you guys understand.

On a better note, I'd like to give my personal thanks to Dark ruiku for a good ol' review. Thanks a bunch to all those whose reviewed, put this story on favorite and alert lists, and just all you readers in general. You guys make writing this worth it!

* * *

Roxas fell to the ground with a loud 'umph', and the Threshold of Light pointed right into his face. Hikari stood victoriously above him with an overjoyed smile. After dozens of matches above the plateau –all of which Roxas won- Hikari finally emerged victorious. Oddly enough, Roxas wasn't mad; instead he felt pride in the fact that he was able to teach her so much so fast. It wasn't all him though, she was a quick learner too. As he got up he wondered if this was how his dad felt when he was training him.

While he was thinking things over, Hikari was jumping around excitedly.

"I finally won; I finally beat you, WOO HOO!"

"I better watch out, I might finally have some competition for my job," he joked as he brushed his pants off.

He almost lost his balance when she crashed into him and gave him a lung crushing hug. Seriously, he was having trouble breathing.

"Thank you so much Roxas; you're a great teacher!"

At this point Roxas was actually turning blue, which lucky on his part because if he weren't being suffocated at the moment he was sure there would be a lot of blood rushing to his face.

"T-trouble breathing…need air," he croaked.

"Oh, sorry," she giggled, looking a little embarrassed herself.

"Oh…now this is just such a touching moment," said a new voice.

They looked over at the elevator, and saw Xelskyr walking towards them. He had his usual small smirk on his face and had a sack over his shoulder. He came up and put his arms around them both.

"Now who else here feels all warm and fuzzy inside all of a sudden, cuz I do," he said, his voice practically dripping in sarcasm.

"Oh great," mumbled Roxas.

The Nobody backed off and crossed his arms.

"Okay, who wants to tell me what happened?"

"Well, we now know there's definitely someone controlling the heartless," said Hikari, getting right to the point.

"Good job then, any info on who he or she might be?"

"We didn't get a name, but we did get a good enough look at him. That, and we've seen a few of his fighting moves too," said Roxas.

"You didn't fight him did you?"

They were both silent and refused to make eye contact.

"Oh, come on, I expected that sort of thing from Roxas, but I though you'd be a little smarter Hikari!"

"Hey, it wasn't our idea, he attacked us," protested Roxas.

"Alright whatever, well I'll gather up everyone whose here and you can tell us everything. For now though, you two head down to the lounge and wait."

"Right," they said in unison.

With that, he disappeared into a dark corridor and was gone.

* * *

Within ten minutes, most of the group was already in the lounge. It helped that Nevax, Becxal, and Venxdi were already down there, and that Roxas and Hikari bumped into Axnes and Elkxyse on the way. Five more minutes of waiting and Xelskyr arrived with Hyrxs, Aehxcilm, Rhcxis, and Tevesix. Onjasx, Xealx and Ranxao were all on assignment at the moment, so they'd be briefed later. Everyone took a seat except for Roxas, Hikari and Xelskyr, mostly because they were going to head the briefing, but also because there weren't really any seats left. At least not any that didn't involve sitting next to Aehxcilm, and no one wanted that pleasure.

"Okay guys, quiet down! Roxas and Hikari have some info that I think we should all hear, so pipe down," the Nobody shouted. A few seconds later, everyone had stopped talking and turned their attention to Roxas and Hikari.

"Go ahead guys."

"Alright then, I'll just get to the point. There's definitely someone controlling the heartless, and we ran into him while we were away," said Hikari.

"You said you got a look at him," asked Xelskyr.

"Yeah, we didn't see his face, but he had a black trench coat, a pair of black jeans, dark purple shoes, and he had the old heartless emblem on a necklace. The weirdest thing was though; he said he knew you Xelskyr. He called you by name and everything."

He walked over and leaned against the wall, searching his memory for anyone who looked anything like that. Without facial details, it wasn't much to go on, but it was a start at least. He'd need more information.

"Did he say anything about me specifically," he pried.

"He said that he unleashed the heartless to bait you out, and that you were an old friend, course I'm sure that was just sarcasm."

"Anything else at all, even something that wouldn't normally seem important?"

He already had a hunch, but he wasn't willing to accept it was _him _yet. He'd been dead for two years now, he watched him die personally.

"Oh, there was one more thing," Roxas suddenly remembered.

"Well…what was it," asked Elkxyse impatiently.

"He said the reason he was doing this was because he had a goal in mind, but felt that it would be more fun if he earned it by forcing you to try and stop him, he said you were the only one who could stave off his boredom."

That was it, there was no more debating it; that sounded just like _him._ Somehow he must have survived the last time they fought two years ago, this was not good. If _he _was back, then this was too dangerous for even most of the Fateful. He was the only one who could deal with this, him and maybe Xealx.

"Xelskyr, you okay," asked Hikari.

"Not really."

"So…does that mean you know who this guy is," she asked again.

"Yeah, but I didn't think I'd ever see the guy again."

They all stayed silent, waiting for an answer that might not even come.

"His name…is Kysrel."

"Kysrel huh, so who is he," asked Roxas.

"I'd rather not say at the moment, just know that we need to take him out as soon as possible, otherwise we're looking at a lot of deaths, and even more damage."

"He said something else to me, he said that he wanted to meet me in Radiant Garden in a week."

Xelskyr gave him a perplexed look.

"Why you?"

"I dunno, he just said to be in Radiant Garden a week from now, or there'd be consequences. I think he might try to go for my family if I don't show."

He put a hand on his shoulder and gripped it tightly.

"Don't worry, I'll get someone to watch them. Becxal; you're off on a little tropical vacation!"

He sighed and put away his book. "Fine."

"I'm not too worried about my mom or dad, they can handle themselves, but my sister is really little, so just make sure she's okay."

"I'll keep you in the loop, just watch over his sister for a while, hopefully it won't take too long," ordered Xelskyr.

He nodded and disappeared into a corridor. Meanwhile Xelskyr turned to the rest of the group.

"Alright guys, I'm not about to explain everything just yet, but I just need you to trust me and do what I ask!"

Everyone nodded...okay, obviously one person did more of a snort than a nod.

"Now first of all, Hyrxs, I need you to keep gathering info; anything at all you can get. Venxdi, you're going with him. Axnes, Elkxyse, I need the base defenses upgraded as much as possible. Rhcxis, keep training Hikari the same you have been. Tevesix, Roxas, you're with me, we've got some special training to do. Everyone else, all missions are suspended until further notice," he ordered.

"What do mean by 'special training'," asked Roxas.

"You'll see, just come with me; Tevesix, you to, get a move on."

Roxas looked back at everyone else, who were either moving about to their various tasks or back to whatever they were doing. Hikari was just standing there in the mess of everything, and as much as Roxas would've liked her to come along, he knew better than to argue with Xelskyr when he seemed to be the only one who completely understood the situation. With heaping dose of confusion and curiosity, he followed the two Nobodies out of the lounge.

* * *

After a few elevator rides and a bunch of identical hallways, they passed by the Ops Lab and went through a new set of doors he'd never gone through before. On the other end was a massive room, but it was completely bare; no paint, no equipment, no carpeting, just a bare metal room. Xelskyr took his usual position; leaning his back against the wall. Meanwhile, Tevesix sat in front of the door Indian style and and pressed his palms together so it looked like he was praying.

"Which should I summon," he asked.

"Number eight, he's the only one I can think of that wouldn't try to instantly kill him if we gave his spirit free will," he said, never taking his eyes of Roxas.

"Get into the center of the room kid," he ordered calmly.

Roxas just complied, deciding it was better to just trust him than make an argument out of it. Once in the center of the room, Xelskyr raised his hand and created an energy barrier around the him and most of the room, making it into an arena of sorts. Meanwhile, Tevesix was chanting in what sounded like Latin, or something close to it. Eventually he started to get a greenish aura around him, and some wind was kicking up.

Then a greenish portal appeared within the arena, almost like a giant spectral blob slowly taking form. After a few seconds he could see the basic form of a human, and it slowly became even more defined and detailed. It was definitely male, and pretty tall by the looks of it. As it solidified, he got some of the finer details. He was skinny, pretty lanky; and he had spiky red hair. He wore a coat like the Fateful, but his was all black. Something that really caught his eye were the identical tear shaped marks under both his eyes.

He'd heard enough of his dad's stories to know he was with Organization XIII.

He just stood there with a vacant look on his face, like he wasn't really there. His eyes looked almost soulless, and he wasn't moving an inch, he wasn't even breathing.

"Alright Tevesix, give him his free will."

"On it," he replied.

Once again Tevesix began to chant in Latin, and this time he glowed a bright blue. At the same time, the red-head in front of Roxas began to glow blue as well. As the aura faded, he suddenly seemed to come to life.

"Oooh...what did I do last night, I feel like crap," he groaned.

He was rubbing one eye with his hand, and he was using his other to look around the room.

"Where the hell am I?"

He looked over at Roxas, who caught his eye. He looked familiar in more ways than one.

"Hey kid, who are you?"

"Uh, my name's Roxas, who are you?"

He stared at him for a second, then started laughing to himself.

"What's so funny," he asked, a little offended.

"I know I've probably been out for a while, but you're not Roxas, he rejoined with Sora," he said, still laughing.

"I know, but you're thinking of the wrong Roxas, I'm actually Sora's son," he explained.

His laughing immediately ceased, and his expression showed one of shock and confusion. He walked up to him and leaned down like he was inspecting him; he circled him and rubbed his chin.

"Huh...yeah, I see it now; you _do_ look a lot like him."

"Uh, look; I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who are _you_?"

By this time he was in front of Roxas again and he had a hurt expression on his face. "You mean Sora's never talked about me?"

"Well I won't know if you don't tell me your name," he said, a little annoyed.

He stood up straight and tall, towering over the fourteen year old by at least a foot. "The name's Axel kid; A-X-E-L, got it memorized?"

"Ah, now I know who you are! You're the guy who kidnapped my mom once!"

"Your...mom? Kairi is your...mom," he asked, almost like he was stifling another laugh.

"Yeah."

He started laughing again, a little louder this time, but still relatively quiet.

"Okay, enough chit-chat in there," yelled Xelskyr.

"Hey, who are you?"

"I'll tell you later, right now, I need you to fight Roxas."

"What," they both asked in unison.

"I figure a good way for you to get stronger, faster, is to fight the best of the best, and that's the Organization. I started with Axel here because he's the only one who I could trust _not_ to try and kill you."

Axel turned to Roxas and summoned his Chakrams in a burst of flames.

"Alright, if it helps your training, I guess I could help out. Plus, I wanna see just how much Sora's taught you; if you're anything close to him, then this'll be fun," he said with a grin.

Roxas summoned Oathkeeper and took his fighting stance. In the back of his mind, Axel smiled; there was a little piece of his best friend in the kid after all. His Chakrams started spinning rapidsly, and flames rose up from the ground and the floor became ember-like.

"Get ready kid," he shouted.

"Don't worry about me, I'm more worried about you!"

Axel laughed a little more to himself.

"Alright then, here I come!"

He rushed forward, his Chakrams spinning in his hands. "Burn baby, burn!"

* * *

**Aren't you happy? I gave you some new info on the big baddy. Kysrel is his name, and he's one bad mofo, I should know!** **I'm not telling you any more about him for the moment, just know that there's a bit of a back story here. More info will be revealed in good time my friends.**

**On a happier note; Axel's back! Yes, this promises to be an action packed match that you won't want to miss! I'm gonna take my time with this one, so to give you the best fight scene work. This won't be on the same scale as when Kysrel and Naruto fought each other, but it'll still be cool. **

**Check back often, I might get the next one up sooner than I predict. Reviews are always welcome, as everyone knows, so send em' though!**


	15. Chapter 13: Just like Old Times

Fateful XIII

Chapter 13

Just like Old Times

**Disclaimer: **Hey guys, I think you know by now I own nothing on this page except the Fateful XIII itself.

OKAY! I'd like to give a shout out to cronoXcloud4 for the story alert, and also thank Brianneee for a much appreciated and well thought out review. (Though I'm relatively certain the two are actually the same person. Eh, it could just be a coincidence. Get back to me on that.)

Anyway, go ahead and read on!

* * *

Axel tossed his two chakrams at Roxas at impressive speeds; he had to twist in mid-air just to dodge them both. The evasive tactic, however, left him on his stomach. Once the red-head regained his weapons, he tossed one right at the brunette, and he rolled to the side to avoid being impaled. The red ring was now firmly lodged in the ground until it vanished, the reappeared in his hand.

Roxas was back up on his feet and had re-entered his battle stance. He charged at him head on. Axel jumped back and tossed his chakrams again, Roxas side-stepped the first one, then knocked the other one off course with the Oathkeeper. With his advance temporarily unimpeded, he came at the former Organization member full force. He made a swift horizontal slash that Axel ducked under, and then delivered a heavy kick to the keyblade masters stomach.

Roxas was forced back, but remained on his feet. He was still within range to attack, but his opponent had regained his previously missing weapons. As Roxas brought down the keyblade, Axel used his chakrams like shields and blocked his strike. He pushed as hard as he could, but the taller man held his ground. After a few seconds of push and shove, Axel threw the brunette back once again.

"I think I've figured out your problem already," said Axel.

"What's that?"

"You're too used to fighting multiple baddies at the same time; you're too focused on what's going on around you to notice what's going on in front of you. I noticed whenever I lost my chakrams, you'd glance back at them every so often, making sure I couldn't surprise you if I somehow attacked you from behind," he explained.

"Don't focus so much on what's around you, as what's in front of you, that's the key to fighting one-on-one; if you don't pay full attention to your opponent, you're going to have a huge disadvantage, got it memorized," he said, tapping his temple.

"I'll keep that in mind," he shouted as he made another attack.

'_Time to mix it up a little,'_ Axel thought to himself.

He smirked as Roxas slashed at him, only to have Axel disappear into the wall of flames. Suddenly he dashed out again, and delivered a hard punch to Roxas' right cheek before disappearing back into the flame. He appeared again, this time with his chakrams out. Roxas was ready this time though, and blocked his strike with the Oathkeeper. The force of the attack pushed him back across the arena, almost colliding with the flames at the perimeter, but holding his ground a slight distance away.

Roxas pushed up and knocked the ring weapons into the air, leaving Axel wide open. While he was still recoiling back, Roxas delivered a solid strike to his ribs with the Oathkeeper. He was ready for another attack, but by that time Axel had recovered and leaped back into the flames. A second later, the two chakrams flew at him from his left. He brought up the Oathkeeper to block them; the rings clashed with the keyblade like buzz-saws on a piece of metal. He had to move his left hand up and hold the blade to keep it from buckling back and leaving him open. Sparks were flying everywhere as the spikes on the chakrams were constantly scraping against the metal of the keyblade as they spin in mid-air. The force of the constant barrage was slowly pushing him back; he was losing ground again.

"Reflect," he shouted.

Immediately, a magical shield appeared around him, pushing away the chakrams and giving him a second to breath. When the shield faded, Axel had already regained his weapons and zigzagging in his advance towards Roxas. When in range, Axel swung his right handed charkram at Roxas, which he ducked under. Roxas took the time between attacks to move in closer. In a one swift motion he put his right foot behind Axels, then smacked his face with the hilt of the Oathkeeper, possibly breaking his nose, and sending him tumbling to the ground.

Axel was on his back and Roxas had his keyblade pointed straight at his face before he even tried to get up. For some reason, Axel was smirking, even though he lost. He pointed behind him and whistled, at that was the moment he realized that his right chakram was missing.

Roxas turned around to see the flying saw-like weapon coming straight for him. Out of reflex he leaned back and pulled back his head farther than he knew physically possible. The chakram just skimmed his nose, drawing a little blood as it tore a little skin. This, of course, left him wide open to Axel, who didn't hesitate to kick him right in the back as soon as he had his weapon back.

Roxas was the one on the floor now, laying flat on his stomach. He rolled to the side and got up as quickly as possible, bringing up the Oathkeeper again. The two of them stared each other down for a few seconds. Roxas was panting and sweating profusely, so much so that he shed his jacket, leaving only his shirt and pants. Axel was eyeing him, and nursing his bleeding nose at the same time.

'_Okay, this move has never worked for me before, but I think maybe if I get it off, I'll have a shot.' _Roxas thought. He spread his legs and brought the Oathkeeper down lower, focusing on drawing in power.

'_Okay, just remember how Cloud told you how he does this. Take all you power and trust, put it into the blade, and then let it take control.'_

He drew into all his remaining magic and poured it into the Oathkeeper, trusting it with all his power, and praying that this attack worked, just this once. The keyblade began to grow a golden aura around it, as did Roxas. Electricity sparked all around him, a signal that he was at least getting somewhere this time. During all this, Axel looked on with a confused and curious look.

'_Don't think I've ever seen this move before.'_

Roxas' aura started to grow larger and brighter, and there was more electricity flying everywhere. He could feel the keyblade slowly taking control, telling his limbs where it wanted them to go. Then he had it, and the keyblade moved him forward.

With the keyblade guiding his movements, his speed and reflexes practically tripled. Axel wasn't even sure what hit him the first few seconds as a bright golden blur continuously smacked him from all different angles. Meanwhile, Roxas' muscles began to ache at the speed his limbs were moving. Hell, he couldn't even see where he was going he was moving so fast; Axel was as much a blur to him as he was to Axel.

When the attack finally _did_ die down Roxas slowly floated down the ground; back where he was when he first used the attack. Axel was kneeling now, bleeding a little more and probably had at least one broken bone. He couldn't blame him though, that attack took a lot out of him too; he was kneeling now to, too tired to support his own weight.

He was exhausted, out of magic, and probably wouldn't be able to block the next few attacks. Axel was slowly standing, albeit with more than a few problems. It looked like he was walking with a slight limp, but other than that –and the bleeding- he looked okay. He was actually laughing as he hobbled forward.

"I definitely haven't seen that attack before; what was that," he asked between laughs.

"It's called…the Omnislash, a…friend taught it to m-me, but this is the…first time I've ever pulled it…off," he panted.

He laughed again; this guy was weird.

"Well I gotta hand it to ya short stuff; that was a doozy. I'm gonna be feeling this in the morning, or maybe not considering I'm dead and all."

He snapped his fingers and the wall of flames died down and the floor turned back to normal. He was limply holding onto his chakrams, he was just as tired as Roxas. It was a combination of the Omnislash and the blood loss.

"That was taking up way too much energy, I don't want to go and kill myself again now do I," he joked.

"Anyway, that was fun kid; I'd love to do it again sometime. Who knows, maybe then I'll win, but for now, let's just call it a draw."

"Works for me, I'm too tired to argue as it is."

He turned to Xelskyr and Tevesix.

"Okay, whoever brought me here; I'm ready to go back to wherever the hell I was before!"

Once again, Tevesix began to chant in his Latin-like dialect and Axel began to glow green like he had when her first arrived.

"See ya later kid, oh, and tell your mom I'm still sorry about the whole 'abducting her' thing," he said as he began to fade.

"Will do, Axel," the brunette smirked.

At that he became transparent and faded away along with the green aura that surrounded him. Then the barrier disappeared as well and Roxas was still lying on the ground. Xelskyr walked up to the younger teen and nudged his face with his boot.

"Quit it," he groaned.

"No way, I'm taking this opportunity while I've got it," he said, still nudging his face.

Then Roxas smacked his angle with the Oathkeeper. The Nobody began hopping around, holding his injured ankle.

"Ow, that hurt you little bastard!"

"I told you to quit," he argued.

When he finally stopped hopping around and put weight back on his ankle, he walked up to Roxas again and picked him up, and threw him over his shoulder.

"Hey, what're you doing?"

"Carrying you, since you wore yourself out to the point where you can't move. Not a smart move by the way."

"Put me down, I don't need your help!"

"Okay," he agreed.

He let go of Roxas and he fell face first onto the metal floor. Xelskyr laughed as he exited the room and started to climb the stairs, but stopped.

"You sure you don't need my help?"

Roxas frowned into the floor and mumbled something incoherent.

"What was that," he asked sarcastically.

"I could use some help," he grumbled.

He came up closer to milk the moment for all it's worth.

"What's the magic word?"

"I'm gonna kill you," he grumbled again.

"Just say it."

"I could use some help, _please_," he sighed.

Xelskyr's mouth grew into a wide grin and began to laugh.

"There's a good little keyblade master," he said as he picked him up and threw him over his shoulder again.

"I hate you so much right now."

"I know; it's what I do."

The two of them stayed silent though the walk up the stairs and the Ops Lab. Roxas was even more uncomfortable when he saw the looks Elkxyse and Axnes were giving them; it looked like they were trying not to laugh.

"You know, you didn't do half bad," he said as he carried him out of the elevator.

"I saw the whole match and you actually did pretty well; you've got good reflexes. Axel was right though, you try to focus on too many things at once, and that throws you off."

"Thank you oh, grandmaster warrior," he said sardonically.

"Hey, I know I'm not exactly your favorite person, and to be honest, I'm not too fond you either, but we both need to suck it up so we can deal with Kysrel."

"Who is he anyway?"

"That's not something you need to know, not yet anyway."

He stopped in front of a door at the end of the hallway.

"Here's your room, you'll probably want to sleep for a while."

"Yeah…," he said tiredly as he pushed open the door.

Roxas hobbled over to his bed and curled up under his blanket; asleep before he even put his head on the pillow.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I got it out much earlier that I thought I would, but this chapter just came much easier to me than the last one did. This chapter, while not really that important, was fun, and is relevant to some degree because Axel will sort of be Roxas' sparring partner for a while. Plus, let's face it, Axel's awesome; that is when his character isn't being butchered by rabid hormonal girls! That's right, I'm looking at YOU Yaoi fangirls! death glare (Anyone who's ever been to my profile knows I harbor an extreme hatred of Yaoi and Yuri fanfics.)  
**

**In other news, I'm loving all the attention this story's been getting in the short time it's been up. All this positive feedback is doing wonders for my inferiority complex! (Not kidding.)** **Keep the reviews coming, I love the attention!**


	16. Chapter 14: Friendships of the Past

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 14

Friendships of the Past and Present

**Disclaimer: **Honestly, you guys should've gotten the message by now.

I'm back! Yes, I was stressing over school so I couldn't really find time to work much. Though I must say I really like my Web Design and Programming class. Enough about me though, I'd like to turn my attention to you beautiful readers.

My thanks to TheWriterFearedForNoReasonAtAll for the review and some good old fashion constructive criticism. (I can understand how you could get confused, it's a lot of characters to keep track of.)

* * *

The remainder of the week flew by quickly, probably because everyone was on edge, or at least _seemed _on edge. It was kind of weird having everyone on the base at the same time; there was usually at least one person out on a mission or something. The fact that missions were suspended was what really made everyone want to know what was going on. If Xelskyr was so concerned about this Kysrel guy that he wouldn't let anyone leave the base, then that was cause for some apprehension.

The week still had some semblance of normalcy though, Rhcxis still trained them in the gym like always, and Roxas could tell that he and Hikari were both getting stronger. Speaking of getting stronger, Roxas had been fighting against Axel every other day since their first sparring match. It was getting easier to predict his movements every time, and he didn't even need to drain himself by using the Omnislash. He also said I was improving on my focus; I was paying more attention to him rather than everything else that might go wrong around me.

He noticed a more unusual trend to the more daily events though. He'd been seeing Xelskyr around a lot more than usual; he was usually holed up in whatever corner of the base he spent his time in. Lately though, he'd been out and about more; namely, Roxas noticed, he'd been observing all Roxas' training. Whether it be in the gym, against Axel, or sparring with Hikari, he always seemed to be there watching.

Every time he saw him, Roxas would think back to the short conversation he had with Venxdi; how she said there was more to Xelskyr than meets the eye. The more time passed, the more he tended to agree too. Whatever was going on with him, it was also evident that Kysrel was the source of it all. He wasn't sure why, but he could just tell there used to be –or possibly still is- a bond that connected Xelskyr and Kysrel, whether either of them wanted it there or not.

Currently, Roxas was in his room, right after his hour or so in the gym; he had been training under fifteen times normal gravity. He was spread out on his bed, there was nothing on TV and he was pretty tired. He couldn't fall asleep for some reason; he just lay there starring at the ceiling. Maybe it was because he was nervous, maybe he was overly-tired, or maybe there was just too much adrenaline in his system at the moment, but he felt wide awake, but deathly tired at the same time.

He was going to turn off the lights and try in vain to sleep when he heard a knock on his door. He was already standing, so he lazily walked over to the door and opened it. He was surprised to see Xelskyr on the other side, his arms crossed and his face strangely hard. He didn't even wait for an invitation to walk in and take a seat on his couch. He settled in and eyed Roxas as he sat back down on his bed and stared back at the Nobody.

"You're not ready," he said bluntly.

"What?"

"I said, you're not ready," he repeated.

"Not ready for what," he asked, still in the dark as to what he was even here for.

"Kysrel, you're not ready to face him…not yet anyway."

The mention of his name set a chill up Roxas' spine.

"I have to fight him, he'll go after my sister if I don't, or even innocent islanders! The only way to make sure they're safe is to face him!"

"Don't be stupid," he shot back.

"Yes, he sees you as a possible threat; yes, he wants as much leverage on you as he can get, but the real reason he's even going after you in the first place is to draw me out! Besides, this wouldn't even be happening if I had done it right the first time," he said, whispering the last part to himself. Of course that didn't stop Roxas from hearing it.

"What do you mean by _the_ _first time_?"

"It's exactly what you think,"he muttered.

'_I'll never forget that day,'_ he thought to himself.

_Flashback_

_Xelskyr watched the bloody mess that was Kysrel, his rival and enemy, squirm on the devastated ground. He couldn't help but wonder how someone so powerful could look so weak and pathetic. His bones were shattered, his skin was burnt, his blade was in so many pieces he doubted it could ever be repaired; the only thing that remained strong about the fallen warrior were his eyes. His eyes still burned with the same hatred and rage that he'd seen two hours ago when the battle began._

'How the mighty have fallen.'

_He was screaming random curses over the sound of the burning landscape and the beating rain and thunder. Xelskyr slowly made his way down to the broken figure that lay before him. He hadn't made it out of this confrontation unscathed either; nearly all his ribs were cracked or completely broken, his left arm was useless as even the slightest about of movement cause it extreme pain, and he was fairly certain his skull was mildly cracked. Add onto that a number of deep wounds and bruises, and he was in little better shape than Kysrel._

_"COME ON YOU SON OF A BITCH, I'LL TEAR YOU APART; I'LL RIP YOUR ARM OFF AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH IT YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"_

_"Settle down Kysrel, you lose, get over it," he said coldly._

_"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, YOU DON'T EVEN EXIST! YOUR NOTHING BUT A SHELL, A PATHETIC, EMPTY, WORTHLESS BEING," He screamed; his voice hoarse and raspy._

_"Well this empty and worthless being is about to extinguish your existence once and for all, you're too dangerous to be left alive."_

_"GO AHEAD, KILL ME! YOU'LL ONLY BE TRAPPING YOURSELF IN THE EMPTY EXISTANCE OF A NOBODY!"_

_Xelskyr raised his fist, now glowing bright orange and red, like he was holding a small sun in his hand. It continued to grow as he spoke._

_"If forever condemning myself to the life of a hollow being means you'll never again plague the worlds, then that's a price I will 'wholeheartedly' pay," he said, positioning his fist so it was right in front of Kysrel's face._

_"Goodbye…may the afterlife have mercy on you."_

_He unclenched his hand and the burning energy that he had held at bay until now was unleashed upon his fallen foe. There were many sounds overlapping for those few seconds. The sound of thunder, rain, raging flames, and the blast emitting from his hand, but the one sound he couldn't put out of his mind was the screaming. In the twelve seconds he held the blast, Kysrel's screaming drowned out every other sound around him._

_When he finally exhausted the last of his energy and couldn't attack anymore, he looked down at the scorched and crumbled ground where Kysrel used to be. He stood there for a moment, taking in everything that had transpired in the last two hours. He let the heavy raindrops pour onto his face, chilling him. It was the first time he felt anything since the fight began._

_He was only brought out of his trance when he heard a fit of coughs and some footsteps behind him. He turned his head and saw Xealx, blood smeared across his face, his halberd shattered, and a hand clutching his side. He couldn't see very well, he was getting a little dizzy, but he could've sworn he was laughing. As he climbed out of the massive crater, he couldn't help but laugh as well. It wasn't instinct or well timed like it usually was, this time he really couldn't help it, which wasn't technically possible for a Nobody. Oh well, he'd figure it out later._

_"Took you long enough," the blond joked._

_"Sorry I couldn't live up to your schedule. Come on, lets get out of here," he said as he helped support his wounded friend on his injured side. Xelskyr summoned a corridor and the two limped their way to safety._

_End of Flashback_

"Xelskyr, snap out of it," yelled Roxas as he shook the Nobody's shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, right," he murmured still in his thoughts.

"Look, its not that I don't think you can handle yourself, you just have no idea what Kysrel is capable of. I faced him before and almost died."

Roxas looked down at the floor, wondering what he was going to do next. He was obligated to do everything in his power to help because of the keyblade, but what he said had really driven a nail in his confidence.

"I'll let you come with me, but that's it; I won't let you fight him…he's my burden to bear."

"Hey, I'm a keybearer, which means he's my problem to! If he's threatening people I care about, then I'm not just gonna sit around while you-"

"NO," he shouted suddenly.

Almost in an instant he was on his feet and was gripping Roxas by his shirts collar. This was another one of those times where Roxas could've sworn he was some semblance of emotion in his eyes.

"I'm not adding your name to the list of people he's killed, not you!"

Roxas was freaking out at this point. He wasn't sure if this was just his memory of anger, or if he was actually mad. No, mad wasn't the right word. It was more like frustration and…fear.

"Alright…I got it," he agreed.

As he said it, Xelskyr slowly let him down; he had lifted him about a foot into the air. When he was firmly on the ground, he gripped Roxas' shoulder.

"I think, given some more time…you could beat him, I know you could."

He let go and turned towards the door.

"Hey," called Roxas.

He turned at the around at the threshold of the door; his expression even more grim than when he came in.

"Just…thanks for watching out for me…I guess," he said, refusing to make eye contact.

After a few seconds of silence, Xelskyr chuckled a little.

"Yeah well, somebody has to," he laughed as he swung around the corner out of sight.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hikari was atop the plateau watching the sunset in silence. Over the time she'd spent here, this had become her favorite spot on the whole base; it was a place to think and admire the beauty of nature. She looked on at the fading golden orb as it slowly slipped under the horizon, when she head footsteps behind her. She resisted the urge to summon her keyblade, and instead just turned her head slightly. She looked up at Xealx standing next to her, his arms crossed and face emotionless as always, looking out at the sunset as well.

"It's been a while since I've been up here; I used to come here all the time before," he said in his monotone voice.

"It is a beautiful spot."

He didn't respond, but nodded.

"Hey Xealx, can I ask you a question?"

He closed his eyes and sighed. "I suppose."

"Did you…how long have you known Xelskyr," she asked hesitantly.

"Since we came into existence, so about three years."

"In that time, did you ever…feel like maybe you weren't as much help as you could have been? Like maybe you were holding him back?"

"This is about you and Roxas isn't it," he stated, looking past the question.

"Yeah; I know I'm still learning and everything, but I think it would be better for Roxas if I just went home, all I'm doing is taking away from his training time so he can teach me," she said gloomily.

Xealx sighed again; he couldn't help but think back when he was in a similar situation.

_Flashback_

_Xealx limped over to where the spine-chilling screams were originating from. He'd sustained some pretty serious injuries from battling against Kysrel; as much as he hated to admit it, he was on a completely higher level. His once proud weapon was in pieces and his face was covered in his own blood, the Nobody was a walking mess. He came up on the crater; the noises died down except for the rain and thunder, and he could just barely see his best friend standing their over a huge crumbling scorch mark. He laughed at the sight for almost no reason at all other than he knew the battle was finally over. He heard Xelskyr laughing as he climbed out as well._

_"Took you long enough," he joked._

_"Sorry I couldn't live up to your schedule. Come on, lets get out of here," he said as he helped support Xealx on his injured side. Xelskyr summoned a corridor and the two limped their way to safety._

_The two of them found themselves in Twilight Town once on the other side. The top of the Station Tower to be exact; Xelskyr set him down against the wall._

_"Shouldn't we be treating our wounds or something?" Xealx asked._

_"Here, it's the last one," he said tossing him an elixir._

_He looked down at the swishing liquid._

_"Go ahead; you've got some nasty wounds."_

_"I can't…you take it; you're hurt worse than I am, and you were the one who did most of the work anyway," he said handing him back the elixir._

_Despite refusing his offer, Xelskyr shoved it back at him._

_"I don't care, take it."_

_"I don't deserve it," he argued._

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"Kysrel destroyed me in that fight, and most of your injuries were from protecting me in the first place; I was hardly any help at all."_

_He laughed and shook his head._

_"Xealx, you're my best friend, do you honestly think I'd suddenly think less of you just because you got your ass kicked this one time? You're the strongest person I know, and to honest, the fact that you were there comforted me."_

_This time it was Xealx's turn to laugh. "You do know it's impossible for either of us to feel comfort, right?"_

_"Maybe…you never know."_

_They both sat there looking out at the sunset. It didn't matter where either of them went; nothing beat Twilight Town at sunset. Well, there was this small island they'd gone to once, if you watched if from the docks, it was pretty impressive._

_"Hey Xealx, do you think there are other Nobodies out there like us?"_

_"I don't see why not."_

_He turned his head and grinned. "I think we should look for them, maybe find a place where we can all live without anyone like Kysrel bugging us. Who knows, we might even find my Somebody's sister along the way."_

_"Well, if anyone can do it, you can," the blond agreed._

_"Does that mean you're on board?"_

_"Did you really need to ask?"_

_He laughed. "Nah, I guess not. I know you'll always have my back, and I'll always have yours."_

_"That's how it'll always work," Xealx agreed._

_End of Flashback_

"Xealx, you still with me here?" asked Hikari.

Xealx realized he was smiling as he remembered back to three years ago.

"Yes, and don't worry, sometimes all you really need is a friend by your side to win a battle. You're Roxas' best friend, he may not show it, but I'm certain he derives some sort of comfort in knowing you'll be next to him."

"You really think so?"

He smiled a little more. "Let's just say I've witnessed its affects first hand."

"Well…thanks Xealx."

"Not a problem, now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be," he said as he was enveloped by a dark corridor.

_'Huh, wonder where he's off to,'_ she thought to herself.

* * *

Xelskyr looked behind him as he heard a corridor open. In a second Xealx replaced the darkness that was there, and began walking forward. Xelskyr returned to his usual position of leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and Xealx came around next to him, sitting against the wall.

"Took you long enough," he said with a grin.

Xealx smirked back. "Sorry I couldn't live up to your schedule."

They both sat back and relaxed, enjoying the sunset atop the Station Tower.

"You know, for emotionless beings, I think we've been doing a good job with those two," stated Xelskyr.

"They're a lot like us."

"In more ways than the four of us would like to admit. Maybe that's not such a bad thing though."

"They make a great team, like we do," commented Xealx.

"Yeah, but I don't know if Roxas is ready for someone like Kysrel, or Hikari for that matter. I mean, we barely beat him the last time, and who knows how much stronger he's gotten since then."

"We'll beat him, we have before and we will again. It's just that simple."

Xelskyr nodded in agreement. "I guess."

The two were silent for a while, enjoying the waning hours of the day. It'd been three years since either of them had stood atop this tower, but it was exactly how they each remembered it.

"I'm hungry, I'll be right back, I'm gonna go buy some sea salt ice-cream, we never did get around to trying that stuff," said Xelskyr as he leaped off the tower.

Xealx watched as his friend rushed down the streets of Twilight Town and laughed.

_'Yeah, definitely more like Roxas than he'd like to admit.'_

* * *

**Okay, okay, I know. All that wait for another one of those boring filler chapters. Well, it's not really a filler, but it does resemble one. You do get a little insight into the past and a look at Kysrel's more...psychotics side. Next chapter will have more major story development though, so no worries.  
**

**This chapter is heavily inspired by me and my best friend Alex, a.k.a-Xealx, whose practically a brother to me. We've known each other all our lives and I felt it important to convey that fact here. So Alex, in the off change your reading this, you'll always be my best friend, even if we don't get to hang out as much as we'd like. I'll always have your back and you know it!**

**I'd stick around, but now I'm getting all teary eyed and crap. Review please, I gotta go.**


	17. Chapter 15: The Secret Keyblades

Fateful XIII

Chapter 15

The Secret Keyblades

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom hearts blah blah blah

Hey, I'm back again! I felt bad about taking so long with the last chapter, so I decided to not only give you a new chapter ASAP, but it's the longest so far, not to mention the best in my opinion.

WARNING: There are a LOT of plot twists in this chapter to stay with me! Also, we have a really kickass fight sequence in this chapter, so there's something else. The awesomeness from this chapter might cause your eyes to bleed or something serious like that. (be creative, use your imagination.)

Also, before we start, big kudos to Dearly-Beloved-13 for seeing one of the plot twists coming in her review. Damn you and you perceptiveness! I kid; congratulations on figuring it out. I expect nothing less from my favorite reader. (I only say that because you reviewed twice and i love the feedback.)

Read on!

* * *

Today was the day; today was the day they went to Radiant Garden to meet Kysrel again. There was a huge knot in Roxas' stomach as he made his way to the lounge, he was almost too nervous to get out of bed. The walk down the halls seemed like an eternity, he played hundreds of scenarios in his head of what could go wrong. Every step seemed to shoot his heart further up his throat, and he felt like might puke any minute.

The only solace he derived form this was the fact that Xelskyr would be coming with him; the more he thought about it, the more Roxas agreed that he really wasn't ready to fight him, not yet anyway. He was sort of excited though. If worst came to worst, at least he'd get to see Xelskyr fight, he's the only member of the Fateful he hadn't seen fight. He was interested in what his weapon and powers might be.

When he finally found his way to the lounge, Xelskyr was sitting on one of the chairs in silence. The Nobody had heard him enter the room immediately, and stood the seconds his foot past the threshold. They both met in the middle of the room and Roxas stared him down, neither of them saying a word.

"You ready?" he asked.

Roxas nodded. "Yeah, let's just get going before I get to freaked and back out."

"Alright then."

With that, Xelskyr opened a corridor. They were about to go through when they heard a call from the hallway.

"Hey, where do you think you're going without me?"

They both turned to see Hikari standing with her arms crossed and her foot tapping. She had a smirk on her face and her hair was down for a change, making her look quite like Riku when he was younger.

"Look, before you two start yammering on about reasons why I can't go, let me make the argument that I'm a keyblade master too, so I should be there just as much as Roxas. Besides, a wise man once said that 'a good friend by your side in a battle can make all the difference'."

Xelskyr started laughing as she finished her sentence.

"You've been talking to Xealx haven't you."

She put on a pout face. "So what if I have."

"Relax, you can come, but like I told Roxas, you're to stay out of the fight; this is my business."

"Fine, I just think I should at least be there."

"Alright then, let's get going."

Roxas went through first, then Hikari, and then finally Xelskyr. At this point they were pretty used to the dark corridors, though it wasn't exactly healthy for them to use them, it didn't hurt quite as much as it used to.

After a few seconds in darkness, they stepped out the other side; a cave made of pure crystal, it was extremely impressive. He recognized this place as the Crystal Fissure, he'd been here once before when he was really little and came along with his dad for a visit with his old friends. He spent the entire week here, admiring the crystals and exploring the surrounding landscape. They hadn't lost their luster at all; they were still as magnificent as he remembered.

"Whoa, it's beautiful," Hikari said in awe.

"It's the Crystal Fissure, a natural landmark of Radiant Garden, I've been here once, it's just like I remember."

Hikari was still utterly focused on the hundreds of crystals.

"So is this the kind of stuff I've been missing out on by not traveling to other worlds?"

"Pretty much," he said as he followed Xelskyr out of the cave and into the Great Maw.

The blue landscape was a collection of inclines and cliffs that made the ground very unleveled. The Great Maw though, was very flat and easy to move around in, it was like a canyon or a valley. They were slowly making their way to the Dark Depths by the looks; Xelskyr was the only one who could sense his presence accurately so they were both following his lead. It wasn't exactly hard to miss though, there was a frightening amount of darkness emanating here, and it was just a matter of pinpointing it.

They walked through the narrow crevasse that led to the Dark Depths, and finally made their way onto the open cliff. A figure, someone clad in all black and a drooping hood stood on the edge of the cliff. A heartless emblem necklace draped around his neck and the black trench coat waved in the wind, it was Kysrel all right.

"Hello everyone, so glad you remembered to come!" he called to the trio from across the cliff.

"Not like we had a choice!" retorted Roxas.

He just laughed; it was quiet but still audible.

"Xelskyr, it's good to see you again! What's it been, about three years I think?"

"Two years, five months, one week, and six days, but who's counting right?" he said venomously.

"I missed you to," he shot back.

The two stared each other down intensely. Xelskyr didn't seem to move an inch, but his stare could have shattered stone. Roxas decided to speak up before the fighting started.

"Hey, before you two start killing each other, I've got a question."

Kysrel turned his attention on the brunette.

"And what would it be?"

He looked him straight in the eyes and asked, "Who are you?"

Kysrel laughed at his question in a way that said that he would probably enjoy answering it; he knew something big that they didn't.

"Allow me to respond to that in the following way," he said, almost sounding excited.

He pulled his hood down so Roxas and Hikari could see his face in detail. He had short and slightly spiked brown hair, and a scar running up the left side of his jaw all the way up to his eyebrow. The one feature that stood out to Roxas though, was his eyes, they were…pale green. It was the same pale green as Xelskyr; a green that was on the verge of gray, but still had color. Looking into those eyes, everything hit him all at once.

"No way…"

"You see it don't you, it's all in the eyes," he said in a sickeningly happy tone.

"What, what is it?" Hikari asked.

"If you take Xelskyr and take away the 'X' then re-arrange the letters, what name to you get?" asked Kysrel, clearly amused.

She thought about if for a second, and then she got it. Her expression was the same as Roxas'.

"Holy crap…"

"But if you're….then how did he…okay, I'm lost."

Kysrel started laughing again.

"Allow me to clear up the details Xelskyr failed to explain.

"First of all, you are both correct; Xelskyr is in fact my Nobody, and I his Somebody. He was born three years ago when I lost my heart in battle; at this point I can't remember where, not that it matters."

"Wait, if you lost your heart, how come you're not a heartless?" asked Hikari.

"I was, for a short time anyway. But I realized that the reason I was in that state in the first place was because the light had made me weak, so I abandoned it and ripped my way out of darkness by force of will," he explained.

"When I re-emerged I was so much more powerful, I had renewed strength, I had new powers, and I could control the heartless. Once I threw away such petty things as morality and mercy, I was more powerful than I ever could have been before. There was only one last thing that plagued me," he said, pointing at Xelskyr.

"He was the only one who was just as strong as you were," said Roxas to no one in particular.

Kysrel nodded. "Not only that, but I've come to realize another fact about by pathetic other."

"What would that be?" asked Xelskyr, clenching his fists.

"When I abandoned my light, not all of it faded away as I once thought, on the contrary. It was only transferred to a new vessel; an empty vessel," he said with a tone of disdain.

"Me. I was your Nobody, therefore connected to your heart. When your light was evicted, it traveled to the next best thing," Xelskyr said with a tone of realization.

It all made sense to Roxas as well.

"That makes you like my dads Nobody; you have fragments of your Somebodies heart in you, just like he did. It makes you half of him…the good half."

Kysrel suddenly threw away his trench coat, and extended his hand.

"I'm done talking, it's time I eliminated you for good. I can't have my light running free. Prepare."

His hand glowed a brighter blackish-purple than normal, and it slowly took a shape. When the cloud of darkness was gone, he held a sharpened blade. Its guard was in the shape of a heart with horns that wrapped the end of the hilt, and the end of the blade had a hollow area that was shaped in a similar fashion. Roxas didn't need much time to figure out just what kind of blade it was…it was a keyblade.

"Are you kidding me?" he shouted.

"Surprised? Did you think any ordinary person could force themselves back into human form after losing their heart, and then control the heartless with no risk?" he mocked.

Another thought hit Roxas.

"Wait, if he's a keyblade master and you're his Nobody, then that means you can…"

Both Roxas and Hikari failed to notice that he already had his keyblade drawn, and it was extremely impressive. The guard was very angular and had several subtle spikes on it; the blade was wide but sharp, and the end almost seemed like a miniature scythe. It looked just as deadly as Kysrel's.

Before anything else could be said, Xelskyr forced the two of them back and put up and energy barrier to keep them out of the fight. Roxas continuously punched the invisible wall, but couldn't do anything to breach it. There was nothing for them to do by watch.

Once he was satisfied they were relatively safe, Xelskyr took off his Fateful XIII cloak, leaving only a sleeveless black shirt and his black pants along with his boots. They again stared at each other as Xelskyr's cloak floated off the cliff and into the wind. One second they were standing at opposite ends of the cliff, and then faster than Roxas could blink, the two of them had their blades locked in the middle of the natural arena. The force they were exerting was making the ground crumble under them, and the blue stone began to lose its structural integrity.

Xelskyr leaned to the right as Kysrel leaned to the left and then they vanished again, moving at speeds faster than the eye could follow. Then they re-appeared a fraction of a second later in the air, rapidly slashing and countering each other. To the naked eye it looked like an incomprehensible flail of blades, but in reality they were slamming into each other so fast that their movements were barely visible. The shockwaves from the blows were hitting the earth, causing small tremors every time their blades clashed.

Multicolored sparks literally _rained_ down as the two keyblades scraped their metals against each other. Suddenly the sparks gave way to a massive blue explosion as Xelskyrs keyblade slammed into Kysrels head, blasting him into the ground in the valley below. He immediately followed, flying down after him at hypersonic speeds and creating a series of sonic booms that could be heard all the way back at the castle. Out of no where, Kysrel flew right past him, going in the opposite direction. Xelskyr dug his feet into the earth, up heaving tons of rock; then flew after his somebody at full speed.

The two of them played a game of cat and mouse, flying between and over the spires that made up Maleficents old castle. This continued until Kysrel went on the offensive and charged Xelskyr with his keyblade at the ready. The Nobody was going to fast to block him, and the two collided, sending Xelskyr straight through two of the spires, causing them to collapse. Xelskyr slammed into the canyon wall; Kysrel still coming after him. Xelskyr extending his hand and fired a flurry of thousands of plasma blasts, creating a superheated deathtrap shield. Kysrel paid no mind to this and collided with over sixty bolts -burning at his skin- before delivering a punch to Xelskyrs gut at speeds exceeding 1,500 m/s, literally disintegrating three of his ribs.

Xelskyr ignored the pain and grabbed a hold of his Somebodies hair, drew him closer, and slammed their heads together, head-butting him and fracturing his skull. He reeled back in the air, clutching his bleeding skull and glaring madly. Xelskyr followed this up by grabbing onto his face and performing a Nova Fist attack, similar to the one he used on him three years ago to 'supposedly' kill him. The searing supernova powered attack erupted at point blank range, even closer than when he used it before. Just like before though, that familiar scream could be heard above all other things.

When the attack ended, Kysrel lay limp in his hand, but it was just a ruse. He played possum for a few seconds before bringing up his keyblade and slashing at his abdomen. Xelskyr felt the blade bite at his flesh, and the blood rush out of the fresh wound. He spun Kysrel around and flung him into one of the remaining spires; easily blowing right through it and collapsing the top.

He flew over and stood atop the partially collapsed tower and fired two Nova Fist attacks simultaneously, a Supernova Strike. The technique was easily twice the size –and power- of a standard Nova Fist. The resulting explosion nearly engulfed the entire canyon in a fiery blast of plasma. It almost seemed like a plasma-liquid hybrid as it flowed into every corner of the canyon like lava, yet not quite with the same consistency as lava. In a matter of seconds the entire air seemed to be superheated, and the canyon was in the bright glow of what someone could mistake for a sun being created.

In the central beam, which was emanating from Xelskyr's hands, a black glow could be seen traveling up the length of the superheated energy. Out of no where, Kysrel emerged from the beam and collided with Xelskyr, plunging the both of them down into the sea of superheated magma-plasma that he had created. The burning substance ate away at the both of them, as they kept on struggling even in the harsh and painful environment. They punched and kicked and even bit each other in a desperate attempt to gain an advantage over the other.

Xelskyr, determined to end this, created a micro-black hole to devour all of the plasma and hopefully Kysrel as well. The gravitational pull of the molecular sized tyrant sucked in everything within its reach. The glowing sea grew into a swirling whirlpool of searing plasma as the black hole sucked in the burning substance as well as the stray debris from the ruined castle and the loose rock from the collapsing canyon. As he had hoped, Kysrel was no exception to the gravitational pull of his artificial singularity.

Even as the last of his plasma was sucked away, and the remainder of the castle began to give way, he held his ground. His feet and arms grasped into the rock, trying in vain to keep his position. In a desperate move, Kysrel threw his keyblade at his Nobody, forcing him to destroy the black hole and practically twist backwards to avoid the blade. He took the opening and grabbed Xelskyr by the legs and tossed him into the air. Kysrel returned to hypersonic speeds and plowed into Xelskyrs stomach with his fists, sending them higher and higher into the air.

The atmosphere began to thin, and the stars became brighter as they continued upwards. It wasn't long before they were actually in orbit above Radiant Garden, Xelskyr floating helplessly in Interspace. Kysrel wasn't so unlucky, as he was turning about for another attack. He watched as his Somebody collided with him once again and drove him back into the atmosphere, burning his back. He realized what he was going to do well before this; it was a body slam from high orbit. Even for his extremely durable body, this kind of collision at this speed would most likely kill him.

As they re-entered the atmosphere and made their way past the clouds, there wasn't a whole hell of a lot he could do. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, praying for a miracle. Just as they were about to collide with the rock hard ground, it felt like they had hit a gigantic cushion. A second later, Kysrel was off of Xelskyr, and was instead blown into the canyon wall.

"You know I like to sleep in damn it! This is what you get for leaving early!"

Xelskyr looked up and saw Xealx riding in on a miniature tornado. The swirling funnel of air faded as the blond landed next to his best friend and offered him his hand.

"Don't blame me for you being lazy," he said, oddly enough with a laugh.

When he was back up they both turned their attention back to Kysrel, who was angrily making his way out of the crater in the wall. Xelskyr summoned his keyblade again, holding it in another fighting stance. Xealx summoned his halberd, and brought it to bear, waiting for the dark keyblade master to go on the offensive.

As predicted, Kysrel charged them, and Xealx held him off with his halberd as Xelskyr came at him from behind. With one clean swipe he cut a swath down his Somebodies back, drawing disgusting amounts of blood. While he was still recovering from that attack, Xealx jabbed the blunt end of his halberd onto Kysrels stomach, knocking him back. To keep the momentum, he rapidly slashed, creating waves of air-blades. The sharp edges made of nothing but the air collided with him, knocking him back even further.

Xelskyr brought his keyblade on him; hitting him with a rare blunt area of the blade, and blowing him back straight into the wall. He was bloody, beaten, and bruised; he lay in the against the canyon wall, seemingly unconscious. As they closed in on him, he suddenly opened his eyes, and clutched his fist. For some reason, neither Xelskyr nor Xealx could move and inch, they were completely paralyzed.

He looked down; they were standing in the shade. Xelskyr immediately recognized this as Kysrels Shadowshock technique. As long as they were standing in a shadow, the shade, any kind of darkness, they were completely paralyzed.

'_Damn it, how could I be so stupid!?'_

Kysrel stood, and while he did have a heavy limp and was bleeding profusely from almost every angle, he still had enough strength to heft his keyblade.

"I must admit, it was so much fun playing with you both again, but I think it's…time for you both to die," he hissed.

He lifted the blade, readying himself to strike down Xelskyr with one last slash, when a pair of yells pierced the air. Before he could look up, two blurs came down and slammed down on his head. Kysrel reeled back again, clutching his head, and releasing Xelskyr from the Shadowshock. The Nobody brought up his own keyblade and slashed down on his somebody, but he had already disappeared into a dark corridor…he was gone. He'd let Kysrel get away _again_. He punched the canyon wall out of spite, creating a massive fissure.

He slowly turned around, and saw Roxas standing there with the Oathkeeper over his shoulder, a slightly disappointed look on his face. Hikari was behind him standing on a rock with a similar expression. He approached the brunette, who was staring up at the taller Nobody. A smile tugged on his cheeks as he put a hand on Roxas' head and ruffled his hair.

"What'd ya know Xealx, turns out you were right; a good friend by your side really can make all the difference," he said, smiling down at the younger keyblade master.

"You to Hikari, thank you both, you really saved our asses."

"Yeah, you really came through at the last minute," commented Xealx.

"Well, just let this be a lesson to you! The next time you want to take on a super psycho badass, don't leave us out of the fun!" joked Hikari.

"Yeah, next time let us help you. Not to say it wasn't impressive to watch."

Xealx opened a corridor.

"Alright you guys, we can talk once Xelskyr gets cleaned up; back to the base everyone," he ordered.

"Hey, I thought I was the one in charge," Xelskyr laughed.

"You're also the one who got nailed in the gut by a punch going faster than the speed of sound, so get moving," he ordered again.

He took a step forward, but his legs buckled under him and he fell on his face. Roxas saw this as a perfect chance for revenge.

"Need some help?"

"Oh shut up and help me," he groaned.

"What's the magic word?" Roxas said in a singsong voice.

"Shut up and help me, _please._"

"There's a good little keyblade master," he teased as he yanked him up.

He slung Xelskyrs right arm over his shoulder and helped support his side with the limp. Leaning of Roxas for support, the two made their way to the corridor, followed by Hikari and finally Xealx.

* * *

**Awesome, was it not? Now i _know _you all enjoyed this one; I had a blast writing it, and I hope I was able to convey the scope of the chaos that I saw in my head here. Overall I loved the fight scene, it was probably the best I've ever written, even better than the one i wrote for Breaking From the Dark, and that one was damn good. **

**I did find a bunch spelling and grammer errors though, (I was up pretty late writing this thing.), so i took the time to fix them. You better appreciate that!**

**Once again, good job Dearly-Beloved-13, for figuring out that Xelskyr was Kysrels Nobody, I was afraid no one would figure it out. Other people might have, but I can only be sure of one person. I know you guys probably didn't see the keyblade thing though, and i gotta tell ya, I really enjoyed dropping that bomb on you guys, I really did.**

**Now that this arc is out of the way, Roxas and Hikari will start going to other worlds again. So expect to see stuff like Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist on the horizon! Hell, I'll even throw in Avatar because someone voted for it. I don't know that particular show very well, but I promise to do as much research as possible to make it a good arc.**

**Once again, _please _Review. If you don't, Kysrel will come to your house and steal your puppies! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**What? I can't be evil to? (besides, he's been begging to get a pet.)  
**


	18. Chapter 16: Enter the Mercenary

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 16

Enter the Mercenary, Exit the Shade

**Disclaimer: **Blah blah blah, I don't own Kingdom Hearts, I DO however own the new characters being introduced in this chapter, and the universe they inhabit.

okay guy, I know I've been kind of lax with my updates, but hey, I'm only one person. Contrary to popular belief, I can't do everything.

This chapters good; not only do we have...CHARACTER DEATH (dum dum dum!), but we also have the introduction of some new characters. They're of my own creation and from my original story, In the Arm of Orion. They'll be pretty important in the next few chapters, as well as near the end of the story. (dont worry, I'm gonna throw in at least another two or three worlds before the end.)

Enjoy the chapter my wonderful readers!

* * *

(A/N: this chapter focuses on Kysrel after his royal ass-kicking last chapter. Hooray for crazy asshole villains!)

Kysrel was dumped out of the corridor with a thud, forcing dirt into his multiple open wounds. His body was burning, stinging, aching; any kind of pain you could imagine, he was experiencing. He was focusing on other things at the moment though, he had been through worse; he could easily push the pain away for now and worry about it later. That didn't stop him from wincing every one in a while from the strain of movements on his damaged limbs, muscles, and bones. He had to find a place to tend to his wounds.

He doubted he had enough strength to create another stable corridor, he could still defend himself, but not for long at his current rate of blood loss. It was at this point that he cursed his frail human body, but soon, _very_ soon, that would all change. He would never again feel vulnerable as he did now; he would never again fall to that damned Nobody of his.

'_I swear, before this is over, he…will…die!_'

He surveyed his surroundings; it was a grassy forest terrain, no signs of civilizations anywhere nearby. He made his way down the tree-lines, trying to avoid any brushes or branches to agitate his already pained body. It was the dead of night here, it was hard to see even five feet in front of him, and he stumbled a few times, barely catching himself against the trees.

After a few minutes of stumbling in the dark, he kneeled down to rest. He couldn't sit back because of the severe slash wound running down his back, and he abandoned his cloak before the battle, so the only article of clothing he had left were his extremely tattered black jeans, and his slightly melted boots. He had wounds and burn marks on his legs, but it wasn't nearly as painful.

He sat up straight suddenly, when he heard rustling in the trees behind him. Most would have assumed it was just the wind, but there wasn't any wind blowing, and it was too loud to have been an animal. Besides, he hadn't seen or heard any signs of life since he got here, which meant someone was tracking him. Succumbing to paranoia, he sent out a dark blast that wasn't particularly powerful, but strong enough to ward off any unwanted attention.

The explosion was responded to by a series of red bolts being fired back at him. They flew over his head and around his feet, and he shot up and began running, ignoring the screaming coming from his legs. From what he could hear, the blasts were coming from some sort of firearm, but he wasn't sticking around to find out, he was in no condition to fend off anyone at the moment.

He cursed loudly as he tripped and fell, sending a sharp pain all through his body and stinging his cuts. He heard his pursuers approach him, getting ever closer; he once again cursed his frail being. He looked up and saw a silhouette of a man a few years older than him, his early twenties at most. He had a pistol –glowing with unnamed energies stored inside- aimed right at his head. He struggled to create another corridor; it was a daunting task in his current state.

The man kneeled down with the pistol still trained on his forehead.

"Word on the Interspace underworld is that you've been a bad little boy, using the heartless and whatnot. Those little crappers are good for business, don't get me wrong, but I can't very well ignore a request from a friend, I think you might know him to," he said oddly cheerful.

"Xelskyr," he hissed back.

"Right-o, now there leaves only one question to be answered."

Kysrel's glare hardened. "What is that?"

He smiled back; it had a hint of malice behind its happy exterior.

"Whether I take you in alive or not, of course."

Kysrel could tell this man had very violent tendencies under that cheerful exterior, and that was something he could respect. At the moment though, he would have to leave. He used the last of his strength, and summoned a corridor. The man jumped back and fired a few blasts from his pistol, but to no avail, he was gone.

The man sighed and accessed his COM speaker on his ear. "This is Weckman to _Boeotia_; did you get the sensor readings you were hoping for?"

"Aye captain, Casper's having a field day down in the Ops. Lab, he'll have some results within a few minutes," responded the communications officer.

"Copy that, I'm heading back to the Cipher; when I dock, break orbit and prep the hyperdrive for coordinate input," he ordered.

"Acknowledged sir, _Boeotia_ out," she said, and the link blipped into silence.

* * *

The Cipher was a good sized dropship/fighter. It was armed with two Spearhead missile launchers and a 50.mm twin barrel chin cannon. It had twin ion based sublight engines, but was too small for a hyperdrive. It had two inches of Derium-A armor and a Goliath mark II shield generator. It was a reliable ship, but nothing compared to his baby; the _Boeotia._

Now THAT was a ship. The _Boeotia_was sturdy; a Dragoon class frigate vessel, one hundred sixty meters long, twenty-one decks, and room for a crew of over two hundred fifty. It was hyperspace capable, had a maximum sub-light speed of 200,000 Km/s, and eight maneuvering thrusters on either side of the ship. It had a GOLIATH mark IV shield generator as well as six inches of Derium-A armor plating. It was armed to the teeth as well; sporting eight SPEARHEAD missile launchers, a close range defense system of fifteen 50.mm quad-barrel automatic cannons, a compliment of five MAYHEM class tactical fusion warheads, five automated self targeting magnetic railguns, and two central particle accelerator cannons.

Speaking of his pride and joy, he was coming up on its starboard hanger bay now. The blast doors were down and the force field was online, keeping the room pressurized. The Cipher slipped through the blue field and floated onto one of the five docking clamps. Once secured, the hatch opened and Captain Rhys Weckman emerged into the hanger second floor walkway. Outside, a red haired woman was leaning over the railing, waiting for him to exit the vessel. She had an amused look on her face.

"Have fun Rhys?"

He hopped out of the metal hatch. "It's not my first choice for a vacation, but we got what we needed."

The two made their way out of the bay and into the corridors, passing the occasional crewman and console terminal.

"So, what's he like?" she asked curiously.

"Meh, I would really know, he was pretty busted up when I found him, barely had enough energy to stand."

"Don't worry; we'll be able to track him. I've got a few of my subroutines helping Casper in the lab, so it shouldn't take too long to analyze."

"Leto, have I ever expressed how weird I find it that you can literally be in two places at once?"

"Yes, many times; I have to point out though, that that's not entirely correct. If you wanna get technical, I'm pretty much in every square inch of the ship. Hell, I am the ship," she boasted.

Rhys laughed. "Just one of the perks of being an AI, huh?"

"That…and I can get past all those annoying encryption codes you use to guard your personal logs," she said, immediately disengaging her physical avatar afterwards.

He groaned to himself. Leto, as she called herself, was the ships AI, therefore the brains, and sometimes the brawn when Rhys was away.

Rhys had found her a month after obtaining the ship, while he was exploring an old orbiting junkyard. She was in a particularly large piece of debris that gave off a faint energy signal. When he explored the interior he snooped around and accidentally activated her. She was a useful companion, if not something of a mystery. When he found her, her memory was nearly completely wiped clean, save for her name, and a few garbled logs apparently written by her before she was deactivated.

Rhys stated on several occasions that the only reason he kept her around was because Artificial Intelligence programs were a rarity and she seemed like the most advanced he'd ever seen. She found it quite amusing to annoy him by hiding his files and reading his personal logs. Despite their cat and mouse like battles though, they both had bonded with each other over the year that Leto had been on the ship. Most would have laughed or found it unbelievable that a human would hold an AI in so high regards. Rhys however, had been alone on the ship up until about two months ago and had been on his own most his life. He found comfort in the fact that Leto wasn't going anywhere; she was, for all intents and purposes, his best friend.

Now though, he had a crew of about ninety to one hundred people. They had come to join him back when he saved them from a few pirates, easy picking for the _Boeotia_. Their ranking officer, Julia Eos, agreed to stay with him since their ship was trashed and they had nowhere else to go. In exchange, Julia became his second in command and had just as much control over the crew as he did. She was the ships commander, and his 'unofficial' girlfriend.

Speaking of which, she was standing next to Lieut. Commander Perry Casper and Leto. All three of them were huddled around a series of computer terminals in the Ops. Lab.

"What's the word Casper?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, hey boss. We're just going through the data."

He stood over the man in the chair, and observed the screen. The data really didn't make much sense to him.

"What are we looking at here?"

"It's a bit too complex to go into at the moment, but basically, I'm creating new tracking software for the navicomputer based on the properties of the singularities our target apparently is able to produce," he explained, typing in a series of coding.

"Where is he now?" asked Julia.

"According to my readings, a similar anomaly was recorded by deep-space sensors just after the first one showed up. I traced it to a small core world; it seems to be mostly water, dotted by a few islands. I don't really see why he would go there, unless he's planning a vacation or something."

"Distance?" Rhys asked.

"About thirty parsecs from our current position; if we fire up the hyperdrive right now, we can get there in a few minutes. See what he's up to."

That was an easy decision to make.

"Right then; Leto, get up to the bridge and calibrate the navicomputer, set a course and keep me updated on all sensor readings. Casper, analyze as much of that data as humanly possible before we reach our destination."

Leto didn't respond, but deactivated her avatar, and Casper focused harder on his data. Rhys took it as an 'okay' and decided to head off to get some rest before they arrived.

* * *

Kysrel exited his corridor with another thud, this time getting covered in sand. He utterly hated sand; every world he'd ever been to with sand, he just wanted to destroy on the spot. Now, with his luck, he was on one with nothing but sand. It would be worth it though; he had a specific target here, and wasn't leaving without her. Easy enough, after all, how hard could it be to kidnap a seven year old girl?

He looked around, it was just about sunset. The island he was on was small, but had a few structures on it, like a rundown shack and an observation deck. It wasn't exactly luxurious, but enough for what they were used for, which was probably just storage. On closer inspection, he was on a dock with a single boat tied to one of the posts. It appeared that its occupant was on the island somewhere.

Before moving out, he took this moment of peace to gulp down a potion. Obviously not enough to heal his wounds on any effective level, but at least it would stave off infection and give him a little more strength. His limbs didn't hurt quite as much as they did before; mind you he was still in agonizing pain on any normal persons scale. He stood up slowly, gaining his balance, and began trudging across the shores of the island.

His eyes scanned for any sign of life, until his eyes fell upon a small red headed figure sitting laxly on a disfigured palm tree with strange fruits growing on it. She fit the description of his target perfectly, it was definitely her.

He leaped from the shores, straight onto Paopu Island, and landed gracefully in front of the little girl, but at the same time looked a little animalistic. As he rose, he could see the surprise and fear on her face. Who could blame her, what would anyone feel when an unknown super-powered man covered in blood suddenly jumped in front of them? He glared at the small figure in front of him and reached for her wrist. Before he could reach her though, he felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen. He looked down and someone in a Fateful cloak hid stabbed him with a sai.

He had black hair with blue tips and slightly tanned skin; his face was completely emotionless but determined. Kysrel took the sai in his hand and pulled it out, grunting at the discomfort of removing the metal weapon. He took the newcomers arm and twisted it around so that he had him in a particularly painful arm-lock. He soon felt a sharp pain in his leg as the Fateful member struck one of his larger wounds, causing him to let go and stagger back. The two backed up to opposite ends of the small island, the cowering child in between the two.

The cloaked man turned towards the small girl.

"Run," he instructed.

She didn't take a second to think about it, and just turned tail and ran. Kysrel moved to go after her, but he stopped the keyblade master on the bridge. They stared each other down on the rickety wooden bridge; the sunset made the ocean sparkle and gave the two of them a golden glow.

"I take it you're one of Xelskyr's lackeys."

He remained silent.

"As much as I'd like to continue this engaging conversation, I have someone else who needs my attention."

His quiet opponent quickly raised his sai's.

"Don't move," he said quietly but threateningly.

Kysrel smirked. "Don't fool yourself. I'm injured and weakened, but still more than a match for you."

He still didn't respond, but entered a low fighting stance.

"I'd very much like to know your name, if you don't mind."

"Becxal."

"Very well then Becxal, it's been a few days since I've killed someone, I could use the stimulation," he said, darkness gathering around his fists.

He suddenly brought up his hand and fired a dark blast. Becxal sunk down into the ground -becoming two dimensional-, and slipping under Kysrel's legs. He retook three dimensional from behind him and lifted his sia's. Before he could strike, Kysrel spun around and delivered a back handed punch to his cheek. Becxal was blown down to the beach and onto his back.

Kysrel leaped down after him and punched him again in the face, kicking up a small plume of sand. He raised both his hands for a two-handed slam, but Becxal sunk back into the ground as his fists collided with the sand. He re-emerged behind him, and stabbed him in the back with both his sia's. Kysrel grunted at the pain, he couldn't really feel that much anymore, so it didn't hurt was much as it should have. He twirled around again, the sia's still in his back, and grabbed Becxal by his hair. He proceeded to continuously punch him in the face, forcing him back further and further, and slowly forming a rhythm.

By the time that the two of them were on the other side of the bridge, Bexcal had a bloody nose and was bleeding from the mouth. As he about to deal another blow, Becxal brought up a hand and stopped his fist. It didn't do much to impede his progress, as Kysrel simply kicked him in his side instead, blowing him through a door and into a new area of the island.

The new surroundings consisted of a busted old bridge with wreckage at the bottom, wading in shallow water. They were on a raised platform of sand and wood, and he could see a wooden tower with a zip-line in the distance. Bexcal was on the ground, wiping the blood from his chin. Kysrel took this break in the action to yank out the sai's from his back and impale them in the ground.

Bexcal sunk into his two dimensional form again and slipped his way over to Kysrel. He sprung out of the ground upside down, and grabbed his sai's as he re-emerged. He legs wrapped around Kysrels neck. He brought himself up so that he was practically sitting on his shoulders and prepared to stab his head with his sia's. Kysrel caught his wrists, and instead brought his hands down on where his shoulders were, causing Becxal to stab his own legs.

He fell backwards off Kysrel, screaming and clutching his legs. He walked closer to the downed figure and put his right foot over the sia in Becxal's left leg, and pushed down, driving the weapon farther into his leg. He screamed even louder. The Nobody freed the sai in his other leg, and drove it into Kysrels thigh. At this point, pain was no object, so he wasn't slowed down by one stab wound.

He grabbed Bexcal by the neck, and lifted him until he was at least a foot off the ground. He jumped and neck-slammed him into the old bridge; the wood easily gave way. It collapsed in on itself and wooden debris flew everywhere, sending them both down into the shallow water. Bexcal was on his back once again, but Kysrel had kept his balance and was standing over his weaker foe. Kysrel, -eager to end the fight- picked up a stray wooden pole, and held it tight.

He held it high, then plunged it into the Nobody's stomach, piercing his abdomen. Blood immediately started pouring out his mouth, and he began to choke on it. He gripped the pole in a desperate attempt to liberate it from his body, but it had completely pierced his body, and was stuck in the ground. Kysrel kneeled down next to him, a sickening smile and the gleam of malice in his eyes.

"You know," he said leaning in to whisper in his ear, "It's just not as fun without the fear."

With that, he gripped his head, and violently twisted it to the side, breaking his neck. A few seconds later, the man that was Becxal faded back into darkness; his sai's dissipated as well. Satisfied, Kysrel stood and calmly walked away from the spot where Becxal died. He climbed up onto the sand platform and back to the original area of the island.

He searched the area, but there was no sign of that damn girl. His patience wearing thin, he cursed loudly at no one in particular. He quickly calmed himself down, and tried to sense her. He felt the presence of everyone on the world, which was in the thousands, and pinpointed her. she was hiding in the tree house.

He leaped up onto the wooden walkway and staggered his way to the enterance of the sub-par constructed shack. As he inched his way into the small house, he could hear the girl whimpering in the corner. He saw her shortly after, huddled in a far corner, clutching a white blanket for dear life, and crying her eyes out. That was the kind of fear he wished he'd seen in Becxals eyes as he had killed him.

"You're coming with me," he said with rage in his voice.

As a result she tried to push herself even farther into the corner. If he wasn't in so much pain at the moment, he probably would have laughed. He reached down at her, going for her wrists again, when he heard a loud bang followed by a burning sensation on his back. Several more loud bangs, and his back began to burn even more. He toppled over onto his hands and knees, but even that was tenouis.

He felt a metal barrel press against the back of his neck, the barrel of felt like a pistol.

"Howdy, nice to see ya again."

He turned his head to see a familiar man. The same man who'd been persuing him on the last world, but how did he find him so fast?

"who are you?" he hissed.

He grinned. "Rhys Weckman, captain of the _Boeotia_, how ya doin?"

Instead of a response, Kysrel kicked Rhys in the shin, causing him to lose balance. The keyblade wielder somersaulted onto his feet and prepared to blast the captain. He, however, already had his pistol raised and fired two bolts into his shoulder, haulting the charging energies. He pushed himself to his feet and rushed at Kysrel. He pinned him to the wall and shoved his pistol against his forehead.

Kysrel quickly summoned a corridor against the wall and melded into darkness. Rhys fired a few rounds, but they just ended up as scorch marks on the wall. Rhys grunted angrily as he accessed the COM.

"This is Weckman, tell me you traced him!" he shouted.

"Sorry sir, he's gone," responded the COM officer.

"Damn it. Alright, Weckman out," he said as he closed the channel.

That was when he felt a tug against his pants.

"Hm?" he looked down at a small red headed girl.

"Oh, hey. What's a kid like you doing here?" he said, kneeling down.

She was still clutching onto the blanket, and her eyes were still red and wet from crying. "I-I was hiding. That scary man came after me, so I ran up here to hide."

"I see, well he's gone now, so you don't have to worry anymore. What's your name?"

"Namine," she said weakly

"Alright Namine, I'll get someone to come around and take you home, okay?"

Again, she nodded. He stood and accessed the Ciphers COM channel.

"Hey Julia, bring the Cipher around, I've a passenger for you."

"Copy that, be there in a few seconds," she responded.

"Okay, a good friend of mine is going to take you home okay, just stay with her and you'll be okay."

She backed away a little and held the blanket tighter, which only served to confuse Rhys. "What's the matter?"

"I'm scared to go outside, what if the scary man comes back?"

Rhys smiled and kneeled down again, ruffling the girls hair. "What if I held your hand the entire way, would you go then?"

She stepped foreward and grabbed Rhy's hand, which he took as his cue to walk her out of the wooden building and down the ladder. He could already hear the low hum of the Ciphers engines as it landed on the beach. He guided the small girl over to the ship where Julia was waiting for them at the rear gangway.

"Okay Namine, this is Julia, she's a good friend of mine and she'll take care of you."

"Okay," she said shyly.

Julia held out her hand to help the little red head onto the ship. "Come here sweetie, I'll take you home."

She hopped aboard the Cipher and the rear hatch closed. A second later, the ship lifted off and headed off to a larger island on the horizon. Rhys took the time to sit down and admire the view, and also take stock of the situation.

'_Xelskyr...what the hell did you get me involved in_.'

* * *

**Another chapter finish...Ah, how i love that feeling! This one was a pain to write. I was trying to fit those new characters into the story without compromising either universe. It was a little difficult, but worth it. **

**In other news, Becxal's dead! Yup, he's the first of many casualties in this conflict. Kysrel's like a juggernaut isn't he; over the course of the last two chapters he's been stabbed, slashed, blasted, punched, kicked, burned, shot, and very nearly sucked into a black hole! The guy just won't quit!**

**Reveiw please! If you don't, Kysrel's coming to your house next, and he'll bleed all over your carpet, then kick your puppy, and then finally, steal your computer!****  
**


	19. Chapter 17: Blue Sea's and Red Alerts

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 17

Blue Sea's and Red Alerts

**Disclaimer: **Do I really even need to put this thing up here anymore? Haven't you guys gotten the fact that I don't own kingdom hearts yet?

Okay! Another chapter; a little short, but it's still good in my opinion. This is really more of a filler than anything, but next chapter will be better, I promise. All our favorite characters will be back to try and hunt down Kysrel, thanks to Casper's tracking software. (Yay for my OC's!) This one's good though, we've got some combat with the _Boeotia_; laser blasts and nuclear explosions on the horizon!

On another note; a big hug and some delicious cake goes to cronoXcloud4 for a good review and putting me on her favorite authors list. Another delicious cake and a pair of high fives goes out to both TheWriterFearedForNoReasonAtAll and FlameDragonGod for favoriting! You guys rock, I love that you like this story so much.

For now though, just try and enjoy this little gift to tie you over while I work on the _next_ chapter.

* * *

After landing the Cipher on the beach of the larger island, Julia guided Namine back to her home. She looked around the island town as she held the small girls hand. It looked to be a quaint community, nothing on the scale of her home; of course her home was a space station, so that would explain why. Everyone seemed content with their water encased tropical paradise, and it was perfectly quiet and peaceful here. Hard to believe there was a psychotic fugitive running around just a few minutes ago.

She suddenly felt a tug on her arm and she looked down. Namine was looking back up at her with curious eyes.

"What is it?" she asked calmly.

"Why was that mean man after me?" she asked with an almost overwhelming amount of innocence in her voice.

"I don't know, but your okay now, don't worry."

"I'm not worried about me, I'm scared for my big brother," she said looking down at the ground.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know, my daddy just said he was going away for a while. I really miss him."

The way she said that just made Julia want to pick her up and hug her. Of course, Rhys was always saying that she was like that with everyone, regardless of age. She actually tended to agree, she just liked being there for people, which wasn't always a good thing, especially in their line of work. She couldn't always afford to feel sorry for people. Still, she was only a little girl who was still scared and apparently missing part of her family, what was the harm?

"Well, I get to travel all over the place, so if I ever meet your brother, I'll tell him how much you miss him, okay."

She looked up again with a huge smile that could only be produced by a child, and Julia smiled back. When Namine looked down the street, she smiled again and pulled at Julia's hand.

"Come on, my house is right here!" she proclaimed.

They came up on a medium sized blue house with a small garden along the perimeter. The yard was nicely kept and there was a stone walkway up to the front door. Julia stopped and kneeled down next to the small redhead.

"You go on inside alright, I have to go back to our ship with Rhys," she explained.

"Okay, thank you for saving me," she said sweetly, wrapping her tiny arms around Julia's neck. Julia was a bit shocked at first, but then graciously returned the hug, her softy side showing again.

"Not a problem sweetie, now get going, you don't want your mother to worry."

She nodded and ran to her front door. "Bye-bye!" she called before disappearing into the house.

Julia smiled again, and turned around to head to the beach and pick up Rhys.

* * *

Meanwhile, up in orbit over Destiny Island, Lieutenant Robinson was sitting laxly in the command chair on the bridge of the Boeotia. It wasn't exactly a large room, but it had enough space for the required equipment; sensor terminals, weapons controls, communication relays, and the like. Other than that, the only other feature was the huge view screen in the front of the room. He was placed in command after the captain and commander had gone planet-side to deal with something or another. He didn't really care.

Suddenly there was an incessant beeping coming from the sensor station, and the officer called him over.

"What do we have?" he asked in a monotone voice.

"We've got baddies incoming, not sure how many or what kind of vessels yet, but there are a good amount," she reported.

"Alright then, shields up, weapons online!" he ordered.

"Got it, shields are up; railguns active, point defense systems online, missiles loaded, and particle cannons charging!" reported the weapons operator.

That was when Leto decided to show up, her red haired avatar flickering into existence.

"What's the situation Lieutenant?" she asked.

"We've got incoming baddies, not sure how many, but they're definitely heading our way. We could use some firing solutions if you don't mind."

She closed her eyes for about three seconds, then opened them again and turned her attention back to the man in the chair.

"Done, all enemies in range have been targeted."

"Good; Ensign, what's the status of the particle accelerators?"

"They're rollin' hot sir!" he reported.

"Fire them first, let's see if we can't take them all out at once; fire according to Leto's solution only."

"Aye sir."

They waited for a few seconds as the weapons operator waited for the AI's solution to give him the okay to fire the guns. Finally, he was given the green light and he let the energy weapon fly.

"Firing!" he alerted.

They entire command crew watched as two purple beams shot through the void of Interspace, off into the distance until they both exploded into two purple sun like orbs.

"Status?" asked Robinson.

"We managed to take out roughly fifty percent of the enemy assault group, the other fifty percent will be too close to safely fire on them with the particle guns when they recharge."

"Damn; switch to railgun targeting systems!"

"Aye sir!" complied the weapons operator.

"Leto, re-target the incoming ships."

"Already on it."

He waited another few tense seconds, until she opened her eyes and nodded in confirmation.

"All batteries, fire at will!" he ordered.

Right after he said that, he could feel light thuds as the railguns fired their magnetic rounds. Yellow streaks flew off in predetermined trajectories, and light orange flashes in the distance, indicating enemy vessels being destroyed.

"Sir, enemy vessels are charging weapons!"

More violent thuds could be felt as enemy weapons collided with the _Boeotia's _shields. A plasma relay on the wall behind him overloaded, sending sparks onto the floor.

"Shields down to eighty-one percent, and there's still over a hundred of the bastards out there!"

"Lieutenant, I've analyzed their trajectories, they're on a collision course! They're ballistic!" shouted Leto.

The thought of a hundred ships smacking into the _Boeotia_ chilled Robinson.

"ETA until collision?"

"Roughly a minute if we're lucky!"

He had a tactic to take out the remaining ships, but if it didn't work, the ship would definitely be destroyed. Of course, he doubted the shields could handle that kind of strain, even with all the ships power funneled into it.

"Alright everyone, we're going dark! I want a MAYHEM fired off, then shut down all major systems. Leto, I'm leaving that timing to you."

(**A/N:** For all of you who don't know, nukes release EM waves when they explode, which fry electrical equipment. Now you can go to bed tonight knowing you learned something new!)

"Lieutenant, are you sure? If even one ship makes it past that nuke, the _Boeotia _will be severely damaged,"warned Leto.

"I know, but the shields probably won't hold against that much strain anyway, now fire the nuke," he ordered.

She slowly nodded, "Firing."

He saw the small metal projectile fly off into the distance. A few seconds later, the lights shut down, the terminals shut off, and all major systems went idle. The only thing they could do was wait, wait until the MAYHEM went off and they could bring everything back online.

Suddenly everything was illuminated by a bright flash of a massive fusion explosion. Robinson had to raise his hand over his eyes to avoid eye damage; it was amazing to think that anything could survive a blast like that. When it slowly started to die down, he lowered his hand to see a huge ring of leftover particles, creating a shimmering glitter effect for the surrounding space.

They waited a few seconds to make sure no EM energies would damage their systems, then the lights finally blipped back on.

"What's the condition of the ship?"

"A few micro-fractures in the hull, a couple blown plasma conduits and magnetic manifolds, but nothing too bad," reported the Ops. officer.

"Any signs of enemy activity?" he asked.

"None, all targets destroyed," said the sensor analyst.

"Casualty reports?" he asked again.

"A few bumps and bruises, nothing more," reported the Ops. officer again.

With that, he sighed and sunk back into his chair. He put a hand over his eyes and began massaging his temples. This was way too much for a Monday.

"Keep running scans for any more of those ships and contact the Captain," Robinson ordered.

"No need, I'm getting word the Captain and Commander have just docked."

He leaned forward and sighed again as he put both his hands over his face.

'_Of course, he shows up _after _the battles over.' _

"Leto, you should probably get down there and explain everything to him, I'm sure he'll be wondering about the nuke."

"Roger dodger!" she complied before terminating her avatar.

Yup, this was _way_ too much for a Monday.

* * *

"He did WHAT?" yelled Rhys.

Though Leto didn't really need to –since she really didn't have ears-, it didn't stop her from covering her ears with her hands when he yelled. Rhys and Julia had just docked the Cipher and were eager to know what was going on.

"I told you, he had to use a MAYHEM nuke to take out all the enemy ships; they were on a ballistics course!" she restated.

"Did he remember to switch to 'dark mode', no major systems online?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, yes, everything is fine. No one was hurt and there was only minimal damage."

He backed up and leaned on one of the railings, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Good, for a minute there I thought something bad might have happened to the ship."

"Yeah, and, ya know, I'm fine. No need to worry about _me_, your ships only means of using the _hyperdrive_," she said agitated.

(**A/N:** Again, for those of you who don't know, AI's are the only ones who can program coordinates into hyperdrives. Humans can't get it as exact and the ship could end up smacking into a planet or something.)

"Oh shut up, you know I was worried about you to," he said as he passed her, heading for the bridge. Her avatar and Julia both followed.

"So what're we going to do?" asked Leto.

"We'll stay in orbit for a while, whoever Xelskyr wanted us to track came here a reason, and I can't help but think that little girl is somehow important. Not to mention that this world came under attack only a few minutes after we drove the guy off, that's no coincidence."

"I'd second that," agreed Julia.

"Righty then, I'll to tell the Lieutenant!" she chirped before blipping out of sight.

"Okay then, I'm gonna head to my quarters then. I've got a call to make."

"Alright, I'll be on the bridge if you need me," called Julia.

He gave her a thumbs-up as he walked down the corridor. The hallways of the _Boeotia_ were bland and grey, but he liked them all the same. This ship had been his home for the last year, and it grew on him. Lucky for him, his room was on the same deck as the hanger.

He entered the dimmed room. It was a pretty nice room; a bed in the corner, dark blue carpet, a couch and coffee table, a bathroom in the next room to his left, and a desk with a personal computer terminal. He kicked off his boots and sat down at the desk.

He scrolled down the list of frequencies until he found the one he was looking for. It was password encrypted; a password that only he and a select few knew. He punched in the digits and waited for it to confirm a connection. A few seconds later, the screen blipped to life.

Before him was a kid; he had short and messy dirty blond hair and brown eyes. He was writing on a notepad when he looked down to see that someone was trying to contact him.

"Hello?"

"Hey, is Xelskyr there?" he asked.

He shook his head. "Sorry, he's a little…incapacitated at the moment."

"We'll just tell him Rhys called, tell him we've followed Kysrel to a place called Destiny Island."

The kid's eyes bulged.

"Hey, one of our guys was down there, is he okay?" he asked urgently.

It was Rhys' turn to shake his head. "He's KIA, sorry."

He sighed and looked down, and nodded.

"Alright, I'll tell him. I'll contact you later to tell you what he wants to do, for now just stay put."

"That was the plan anyway, talk to ya later."

He nodded and closed the channel.

At that moment, Rhys repeated the thought Lieutenant Robinson had had a few minutes ago.

'_This is _way_ too much for a Monday.'_

* * *

**Like I said, not the longest or the best chapter in the saga so far, but still entertaining. You'll learn a bit more about the OC's in the next chapter, and how they tie into all this craziness that is my fanfic. It might take a little longer for me to get out the next one, just because it'll be longer than this one, so be patients with me. (please)**

**I don't think I need to tell you all I love Reviews, so keep em' coming!**

**Now, if you'll excuse me, i've gotta go listen to more Yellowcard. (My sister showed them to me last week and now I can't stop listening to them.)**


	20. Chapter 18: Shore Leave

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 18

Shore Leave

**Disclaimer: **You guys know the drill by now.

I"M BACK! I know all you guys missed me! I'm really_ really_ sorry for being gone so long! The muse to write this story completely left me for a while, but now I'm back to finish what I started! I was off writing a new Bleach story (Guardian Angel and Guardian Angel II: War of the Seven Sins), and I think that the time away from this particular story helped me in the long run, I think my writing skill has increased a little since my last chapter here.

I want to thank TheWriterFearedForNoReasonAtAll for finally kicking my ass into gear. I was getting ready to work on this story again, but it was that PM message that really got me going. So I thank you, and I promise to make the wait worth it!

By the by, I've started to actually use my Youtube account and put up a Kingdom Hearts video. If you have the time, check it out. My account name is the same there as it is here, and the name of the video is Kingdom Hearts II (Forze De Male). Just copy and past that to Youtube, and it should be the first one you get.

Anyway, I hope you all can forgive me, but enough of my rambling though, onward with the chapter, I know how long you've all been waiting for it!

* * *

It was a few hours after Xelskyr had fought Kysrel at Radiant Garden, and everyone who had been there was eager to get some rest after the taxing events. Xelskyr was rushed off to the infirmary and was being watched over by either Nevax or Elkxyse.

Roxas and Hikari stayed with Xelskyr for a while until they each headed to their rooms to relax. Hikari was watching TV in her room, but Roxas had fallen asleep and was having the most peculiar dream:

* * *

_Roxas didn't seem to be able to control his movements, he was on a pre-set course and showed no sign of deviating from it. Strangely enough, he didn't care; he was drawn to wherever he was headed. From what he could see, it looked like he was back on Destiny Island, though it looked as though it was in ruins. The beach was completely unleveled and scorched, the trees were toppled and burning; everything seemed to be destroyed._

_There were people there too, some he recognized, and some he didn't. He saw his parents, along with Hikari's dad, Donald, Goofy, the King; he even saw Cloud and Leon. Yuffie, Tifa and Cid were nearby to. He saw a few members of the Fateful, and Hikari was next to him. He saw Naruto standing in the midst of the crowd, and he was supporting a kid with orange hair, a black robe, and a shattered white mask. Next to those two was another guy in a white trench-coat with armored shoulders and a sword that looked like it was on fire. There was a brown haired man with what looked like a pistol in his hand, with his arms around a girl with longer black hair. There was also a kid with a blue arrow tattoo on his head who was leaning on a busted staff for support. Everyone of them looked battered and bruised, and had bleeding wounds somewhere on their bodies._

_Everywhere he looked, everyone seemed sad. Some were crying, some had sullen looks on her face, and some just looked too stunned at whatever they had just witnessed. Through it all, he was still moving towards and unknown destination, but it looked like he was heading towards the largest of the craters in the middle of the island. As he closed in, he saw a dim light shining through the clouds, a ray of sun, that was beaming down on the very same crater._

_He could feel all eyes on him as he practically stumbled down the hill; it was then that he noticed that he was literally covered in blood. Whether it was his or someone else's, he wasn't sure. He closed in on the light, there was something glittering in the beam. He couldn't quite see it yet, but it was getting brighter._

_When he finally made it down, he cupped his hands around the glittering object. It was a heart, its glowing surface intensified by the suns rays; it floated lightly in place, as if waiting for Roxas to grasp it. As he held it for a few seconds, then it faded away, slowly becoming transparent before completely disappearing. When it was finally gone, Roxas felt an overwhelming sadness, like he'd lost someone near and dear. _

_He collapsed onto his hands and knees, and cried._

* * *

The next thing he knew, Roxas sat up suddenly and gasped. His heart was racing, and he was covered in sweat.

'_What was that…was it a dream...or something more?' _

He took a look at his clock, it was only around one in the afternoon. He was about to head back to sleep when he heard three quick taps on the door. He sighed and rolled out of his bed, stumbling a bit as he made his way to the door. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before pulling the nob toward him and opening the door. On the other side stood Elkxyse.

Her normally happy and energetic exterior was gone; replacing it was a face full of worry. He couldn't really blame her, Xelskyr was in pretty horrible shape. There were some bonds that transcended emotions, and the bond between brother and sister was one of them, that was what Roxas believed anyway.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked.

"My brother wants to see you, he said it was important," she said, in an almost depressed tone. That was something caught Roxas' notice.

"Something wrong?"

She looked at him blankly. "You mean other than the fact my brother went off to who knows where and almost gets killed, then won't even tell me what's going on? No I'm fine!"

He scratched the back of his head subconsciously, it was a nervous habit.

"I didn't mean it like that, I just wanted to know if I could help," he said, putting his hands up defensively.

"If you want to help, then tell me what the hell is going on!" she demanded.

He looked down, put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "I really wish I could, but I don't think your brother would be too happy about it. It's pretty personal, and I think he's still trying to figure some new stuff out."

"I just don't understand why he seems to trust you more than me, his own sister!"

"I don't think it's that he trusts me more, I think he just wants to keep you guys out of it, so you don't get hurt. It was hard just to convince him to let _me_ come along."

She sighed. "Fine, I guess he'll tell me when he feels like it. Anyway, I've got stuff to do, see ya around."

He watched her go for a few seconds before turning around, grabbing his jacket, and heading in the opposite direction. He cut through the lounge, watching Rhcxis tease Axnes with a sandwich by levitating it around his head like it was in orbit, and laughed to himself. Taking an elevator ride down a few levels, he re-emerged on one of the lowest levels of the base that still had that ritzy, sophisticated feel to it.

It still confused him as to how they actually built this place, it seemed to never end. There was always a new hallway, or a new floor on the elevators, it was such a mystery. This time he wasn't exploring though, he knew exactly where he was going.

About halfway down the current hallway, he came across a door with the words 'Infirmary' over it. He walked into the room, which was significantly dimmer than most of the rooms, and crossed the distance to a bed with the curtains closed. He whipped them open some, and poked his head through. Nevax was sitting in a chair, one leg resting on the other, and Onjasx sat next to him, practically laying limp in boredom. Of course Xelskyr was in the bed.

"About time you got here," complained Onjasx.

"Sorry, I was just waking up."

"Ah, don't worry about it, we've got more important stuff to get to," said Nevax, waving his hand.

Roxas took a seat in a free chair on the other side of the other two Nobodies. He looked back between the pair and then to Xelskyr waiting for whatever they had to say.

"Look, Roxas. You have to promise not to fly off the handle when I tell you what I'm going to tell you," warned Xelskyr.

"Well what is it?"

He took a deep breath, then exhailed and said, "After I found out Kysrel was still alive, I contacted another friend of mine. His name is Rhys; we helped him build a ship a while back, and he owes me one. Anyway, I asked him to try and track Kysrels movements through the worlds, and just after he escaped us at Radiant Garden, Rhys ran into him, and chased him to Destiny Island."

The last part of that sentence hit him like a ton of bricks. Immediately, hundreds of scenarios ran through his head of what could have gone wrong, what could have happened.

"How is my family, my sister!?"

"They're all fine, Rhys got there in time and drove him off."

"Good, what about Becxal, he was there too right?"

"...he's dead."

Now Roxas felt a little guilty, but at the same time, knew that if he hadn't been there, anything could have happened to Namine.

"So where do we go from here?" asked Roxas.

"Rhys is still in orbit over Destiny Island and his running constant sweeps to make sure it's secure. You and Hikari, along with Nevax and Onjasx here, are going to head to Destiny Island and help Rhys track down Kysrel. From what Rhys told me, he's still pretty weakened, and if all of you go, you should be able to take him out."

"Sounds good to me," said Nexav, cracking his knuckles.

"I'm up for some action!" agreed Onjasx.

Roxas nodded, "I'm in to; I'll grab Hikari and we can leave."

"Good, happy hunting you guys," he said cheerfully.

* * *

"So we're going to a spaceship?" asked Hikari.

Roxas was leaning his back against the wall in her room, and she was packing up some supplies. Potions, elixers, and ethers were put into a small backpack she now had slung over her shoulders.

"That's right, apparently this guy has a way of finding which world Kysrel is at. That and his ship is pretty powerful, so he can help us in the fight."

"Sounds pretty cool. Plus, we might even get to see our parents for a little while, it'll be great!" she said happily.

"That's true, I wouldn't mind having some of my dad's cooking." (Haha, Kairi can't cook!)

She looked up at him, and laughed to herself.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Nothing, it's just that when you stand there like that, you look a little like Xelskyr," she said, still laughing.

He glared at her, trying to look offended. In reality, it didn't bother him too much; he had to admit, as much of a jerk as he was, Xelskyr was pretty cool. To be told he looked like him was a little bit of a compliment in his eyes. (Ego, ego, I have and ego!)

"Anyway. let's get moving, Nevax and Onjasx are already set, they're waiting for us in the lounge."

Roxas pushed off the wall and exited the room, with Hikari close behind. The hallways were deathly quiet, everyone either in their rooms or doing work in their respective area's. Roxas was thinking hard about what's they were setting out to do. He couldn't believe Kysrel had actually been to Destiny Island, that he'd come so close to getting Namine. He should have never come here, he should have stayed to protect her and let his father take this. Then his thoughts drifted to his dad, what was he doing? He'd imagine he was still contacting old friends like the king.

That was when he remembered the dream, the one where all those people, his family and the king included, were all bloody and he was crying. There was no way that was his imagination, it was too real, too detailed for him to have just made it up. His dad had always said that he'd seen some pretty weird stuff in his dreams that ended up coming true, like meeting up with Riku and his mom in the Organizations Castle. Even though he'd never actually seen the castle before, he still said that he saw everything in detail, including both of their faces. The same thing could have very well have happened to him.

He wasn't sure if he wanted this dream to come true though, it seemed that whatever was going on, it was horrible and saddening; enough to devastate the islands and hurt his friends. Speaking of his friends, his guilt over Becxal's death was still lingering. He knew they were Nobodies and couldn't actually feel sorrow, but that didn't stop Roxas. Not only was he gone, but it had finally opened up Roxas to the fact that he could actually be killed, he could really _die_ in this fight. Kysrel was forever corrupted by darkness and possibly -scratch that, most likely- insane, he'd have no problems killing people if it helped him complete his goals, whatever they were.

He shook himself of those thoughts when he stepped into the lounge. Nevax was at the counter devouring another one of his wild adventures into the limits of taste-bud endurance. Onjasx was sitting there with an MP3 player, bobbing his head to his music.

"You're finally here!" said Nevax with his mouth full, spraying chunks of bread and meat everywhere. He put his sandwich back in his fridge, and ran over to Onjasx, bonking him on the head.

"What!" he groaned over his music.

"It's time to go!"

"Man, and I was just getting comfortable, oh well, I guess it'll still be here when I get back."

He hopped up and placed the player on the table. Once he was up and ready, Nevax made a portal for us all to go through. Onjasx went through first, then Hikari, then Roxas, and finally Nevax. After going through these things so many times, Roxas and Hikari had pretty much gotten used to them, so there was no nausea or disorientation as the came out the other side.

Speaking of the other side, it was much cooler than even Roxas could've hoped for. There were people all over the place, working on computers and carrying sophisticated tech stuff. The walls were a drab grey, but the flashing of buttons and the diverse uniforms made up for it.

"I'm never gonna get over how creepy that is," said a voice from behind them.

They turned around and saw a man sitting in a chair against the wall. He had shaggy hair like Nevax, except it was brown instead of red, and he had what looked like a pistol strapped to his upper right leg.

'_Wait...Pistol?' _thought Roxas.

He had to admit, he did look a lot like the guy from his dream, the one who was holding that black haired girl. It couldn't be him though could it? He shook the thoughts away, deciding to worry about it when he didn't have a job to do.

"Anyway, sorry to say we can't get moving right away. The ship still has some minimal damage we're patching up, so we won't be able to leave for about an hour or so," he said, leaning forward in his chair.

"Is there any way we can go down to the surface then?" asked Roxas.

"Oh right, right, you two live here don't you. Well...yeah, I don't see why not."

He put his finger against his left ear, activating a personal COM system.

"Hey, Julia. Our guests have arrived, two of them need to get down to the surface. Prep the Cypher would ya?" he said, speaking into the microphone.

'_Got it.'_

With that, he released the pressure on his ear and returned his attention back to the group in front of him.

"Well, you two can head down the the hanger, there'll be a ship waiting to take you down to the surface. As for you two," he said gesturing to Onjasx and Nevax, "you can do whatever, just as long as you don't break anything."

"Relax, we helped build this baby, remember!" said Nevax.

He didn't look all that convinced, but never the less waved them away, and they walked off through a sliding door.

"Now I'll get you two squared away. Leto!"

Suddenly, a red headed girl around the same age as the man in front of them appeared. She flickered a bit as she first entered the room, but then her image solidified and was stable. She stretched her arms with a happy look on her face.

"Watcha need Rhys?' she chirpped.

"Just take these two down to the hanger where the Cypher's docked."

She nodded. "Rodger dodger! Come along kiddies!"

The two teenagers were a little weirded out by her attitude, it reminded them a lot of Elkxyse, but they followed her none the less. The ship reminded Roxas a lot of the Fateful base's lower levels. The walls were nothing but metal and technological equipment. The only difference was there was a lot more people. They passed a dozen people at least on their way down to the hanger, most of them preforming minor maintenance or repairs.

When they finally did make it to the hanger bay, it revealed a large room with another dozen people all working with supplies or fixing random equipment. The three of them were on the second level, which was a series of catwalks above the first floor where almost everyone else was working. In the center of the room was a ship that had it's rear facing the catwalk they were on, and its door was down.

"Here we are, just hop in and you'll be down there in no time!"

They both nodded and hopped aboard the ship. The rear compartment door slowly slid closed and sealed itself so the room was air tight. Roxas wandered over to the other end of the room and opened up the door there, entering the cockpit. There he was in for another shock. Sitting at the controls was the black haired girl who was in his dream as well, standing right next to the guy with the pistol.

She looked back at him, confused by his expression of shock. He shook his head to free himself from the daze and regained control of his faculties.

"Uh hi, I'm Roxas," he greeted.

"Oh, so you're Roxas. Your little sister told me about you."

The surprises never ended. "You know Namine?"

"I met her, yes. Why that weirdo you guys are after showed up, Rhys had me look after her for a bit, and you came up in the conversation."

"huh."

She laughed to herself. "She really is the sweetest thing. You're lucky to live in a place like this."

"Why, what's your world like?" he asked.

"I wouldn't know, no one on the _Boeotia _knows what world they're from, we're all just remnants left over from the Heartless War. There are thousands of people who don't know where their home-worlds are, so instead there are giant space-stations dotting all over the place to house those who have no home. Everyone aboard the Boeotia are among those people," she explained.

Roxas was utterly shocked, he had no idea there were people like that. He couldn't imagine having no home to go back to.

"Wow, I didn't even know. Thousands of people..."

"Don't worry about it, we're all fine on our own. Besides, the reason we all went with Rhys was to find a world where we can live. One to call our own, and one where we won't interfere with an already present society."

"How's it going so far?"

She sighed. "Not good."

"Well don't worry, once this is all over, I'm sure I can help you guys out!"

She laughed again. "I just might hold you to that."

He looked out of the cockpit window just as they broke through the clouds, revealing the crystal blue ocean and lush trees of Destiny Islands. He felt a swell of joy at being home again, and that he'd be able to catch up with his family, if only for a little while.

The Cypher came in for a landing on the beach and hit the sand with a slight _thud_.

"Alright, here we are."

"Thanks, when should we be back?"

She reached into a compartment next to her chair, and pulled out a curved ear-piece and handed it to him. He held it for a second, then put it into his left ear.

"There you go. When we have to go, I'll call you on that."

He nodded. "Right; we'll I'll se ya later."

He left the cockpit and re-entered the rear compartment where Hikari sitting, twiddling with her hair.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"You know it!" she said enthusiastically.

The two hopped out the back hatch and onto the sandy beaches of Destiny Island.

* * *

Once the pair were in town, they began navigating their way back to Roxas' house. Not much had changed in the time they had been gone, everyone was going about their normal day. Cars were in the street, people were in restaurants an stores, everything seemed as peaceful as ever. Over the time Roxas had been gone, he'd learned to appreciate the boring and normal for a change.

They were coming up on the suburban part of town when Roxas first spotted his house. He immediately broke into a run and Hikari followed. Roxas, always being the faster one, get there first and practically threw open his front door. He ran down the hallway into his living room and saw his mom there sitting with Hikari's mom as well.

Kairi turned her head to investigate the sudden noise, and to her surprise found her son standing in the threshold. She instantly shot out of her seat and hugged him before he could even move. Hikari walked past the two, and Selphie had a similar reaction. So there they were, the two of them being suffocated by their respective mothers, each gasping desperately for air.

Once they were both let go, they both bent over, putting their hands on their knees for support.

"Roxas, Hikari, you're back!" chirped Kairi.

"Yeah, for now anyway," said Roxas, still regaining his composure.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"We have to leave again in an hour, we're just stopping here to see how everyone is doing."

Both of their mothers had a look of disappointment, but didn't say anything. They didn't want them feeling guilty when they left again.

"So how's everyone been doing?" asked Hikari.

"Oh everyones been doing just fine hun, you must be doing a good job out there because everything's been normal," said Selphie

Roxas had a question a bit on the serious side.

"So, where's dad?"

Now the both of them looked irritated. "Both your fathers decide to leave on a big investigation along with Donald, Goofy, and the King. I couldn't even begin to tell you where they are now," said Kairi.

Roxas sighed. "Man, we had some stuff we needed to tell them to. They might've been able to help us."

"Don't worry about it for now, just come and sit down and tell us about what you've been doing."

They both smiled and nodded. They all took seats around the living room coffee table.

"So meet any interesting people?" asked Kairi.

"Well, I guess I should start with the first guy we met; Xelskyr..."

* * *

Over the next forty-five minutes, Roxas and Hikari sat in the living room recounting their adventures so far. They explained about the Fateful and what had happened with Naruto, They told them about Kysrel, but not too much, they didn't want them to worry themselves to death. Finally they concluded with what happened in Radiant Garden and why they were here in the first place.

"Well, looks like you two are taking after your fathers more than we'd hoped you would; of course I can't wait until your father gets back so I can tell him you have a keyblade Hikari. Just imagining his face is halarious." said Selphie.

Hikari laughed to and could also imagine her dads face. Of course keeping that kind of secret from him would undoubtably make him mad, but she probably wouldn't be around to see his reaction.

Roxas was about to say something else, but a voice suddenly sounded from the other end of the room.

"Roxas!"

He turned his head and saw a red headed blur coming at him. The next thing he knew, his little sister was on his lap, and he was in a similar hug when he first got here.

"Roxas, you're back!" she shouted happily.

"Hey Nami, it's good to see you again!" he said, messing with her hair.

"So, how have you been missy-miss?" he asked playfully.

"Good, hi Hikari!"

Hikari smiled. "Hey there Namine."

He was going to say something to her, but a voice made its way into his left ear.

'_Roxas, it's Julia. I just got word from Rhys. Everything is prepped and ready to go. We've go to get back to the Boeotia.'_

He pressed on the ear-piece and spoke into it. "Yeah alright, we'll be there in a few minutes."

He sighed and grabbed ahold of Namine. He lifted her up and set her down again on the floor.

"Sorry everyone, but we have to go. I promise we'll stop by again if we can," he said sullenly.

"Aw, you have to go _again_?" Namine whined.

Roxas knelled down in front of her. "Sorry Nami, I don't want to leave any more than you want me to, but I have to. There are bad guys who are hurting people, and it's my job to stop them. I promise to come back soon, okay?"

"Okay," she sighed.

"Alright, now give me a hug for the road, eh?"

She smiled and happily obliged. After a few seconds he let her go, and she repeated the process with Hikari. Their mothers quickly hugged them as well, and said their farewells.

With feelings of both sadness and happiness, Roxas and Hikari departed his home and made their way back to the beach where Julia would be waiting. Namine, Kairi, and Selphie waved to them until they couldn't see them anymore, then went back inside, hoping the two teenagers would be safe for the rest of their journey.

* * *

**Oh God, it feels so good to be back! My other Bleach story isn't finished yet, so I'll be working on that one at the same time, but it'll be finished well before this one, after that's done, this'll take up all my free time. I promise not to suddenly disappear for a month again like I did, I was a real jackass for doing that and I apologize.**

**Now, I want to point something out in Roxas' dream sequence at the beginning of the chapter. Now I'm sure everyone recognized all the characters there. Now two things i think I should explain. **

**One: yes, everyone in that dream sequence will be involved in the final battle in one way or another, it's gonna be that huge.**

**Two: The only person you probably didn't recognize from the discriptions was the guy in the white trench-coat with the flaming sword. Well that's my OC from my bleach story, Guardian Angel. (Yes, I'm sorry, another OC, I'm just confusing you guys with all these new characters. I just thought it would be cool, don't hurt me.) Anyway, his name is Matt Anderson, and if you wanna learn about him and his powers, just go read the story, it's really good.**

**Thats all I gotta say. Next chapter we'll be jumping into the world of Bleach and all that good stuff. Prepare!**

**Review and crap like that!** **(and feel free to yell at me and tell me what an ass-face I am. I'm a big boy, I can take it.)**


	21. Chapter 19: The Death and the Keyblades

**Fateful XIII**

Chapter 19

The Death and the Keyblades

**Disclaimer: **...No

Okay, now we're entering the world of Bleach today! As fair warning, this isn't exactly the Bleach you guys are familiar with. The vast majority is still the same, but at I stated last chapter, there's an OC in the mix. His name is Matt, and you'll see him in action soon enough. The time setting here is five years after the current storyline of Bleach, so Aizen is dead and the espada are no longer a problem. One other thing you should note is that Grimmjow is a good guy here.

For those of you who may have read the story Matt is from already, then all you need to know is that this takes place in the year time-skip between the first and second story. If you haven't, then there are some _mild_ spoilers, but that's okay.

Don't worry, Ichigo is still a prime player, so don't go attacking me or anything. Also, Kysrel will be featured in this chapter, and you'll learn a little about his past regarding this particular world. It'll be explained in more detail when I release Fateful XIII: Rewind. I'll have that out...eventually.

* * *

Roxas spent most of his time on the bridge, watching the operations of the ship. The captain, who he learned was named Rhys, had told him that they had recorded a dark corridor open up on a world not too far away from Destiny Islands, and that they'd be there in a few minutes. Well it had been a few minutes and they were just about to drop out of hyperspace.

He had talked to Nevax about the world they were going to, and he said that this world was another one they had a contact on, so they would have a base of operations while they worked there. He said it was a pretty large world, but there were only a few places that Kysrel would really go.

Just as Roxas was wondering what the place would be like, he saw the normal streaks of multi-colored light disappear from the view port. Instead it was replaced with the greenish purple void of inter-space and a glowing orb below that made up the world below.

"I told ya it was big," said Nevax from behind him.

He turned around to see the redhead nobody, Onjasx, and Hikari all joining him on the bridge. Hikari raced up to the view port and peered out to.

"Wow, look at it!" she said in awe.

"Yup, probably one of the largest worlds in the multi-verse," said Onjasx.

"Alright, alright, enough dilly-dallying, let's get down there and get to business," ordered Nevax.

He stepped forward and opened a corridor right there in the bridge. The command crew -having no experience with nobodies- stared in awe at the swirling darkness that had suddenly appeared in their ship. Roxas and Hikari didn't waste any time in jumping through so they could get to a new world and hopefully find a weakened and beatable Kysrel.

When the darkness finally let go of Roxas, he popped out into what looked like a back alley. Hikari stood next to him looking around as well. The area was mostly deserted, save for the sound of cars and people in the distance, and a lone shop in front of them.

Nevax and Onjasx walked past them both and approached the simple wooden building. There were two people at the front, one was a raven haired girl who was sweeping the deck, and a red haired kid who looked like was was asleep. They both looked around their age.

When they reached the door, the red haired kid opened his eyes and groaned.

"Oh great...you guys."

The two nobodies seemed to ignore his comment and pushed the door open, entering the shop. The interior of the shop was just as simple as the outside; nothing but a few racks and shelves of wares that didn't seem to be of any use other than just knickknack or novelties. They kept going though, into the back rooms where they all turned left, entering a small sitting room. In the room was a lone man with blond hair wearing a striped hat and green robes. He was playing around with an old style fan before looking up and smiling.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would be paying me a visit," he said cheerily.

"You were expecting us?" asked Roxas insidiously.

He nodded. "Of course, I sensed something reminiscent of a heartless pop into fair Karakura town and knew you Fateful XIII wouldn't be too far behind."

"Trust me Urahara, that guy is no heartless. Long story short, he's probably the most dangerous person...ever," informed Onjasx.

"We could use your help if you have the time."

He shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm not really into that sort of thing anymore, but don't worry, I have a few people in mind who should do just as well."

He turned his head and stared off into space like he was observing some strange phenomenon that no one else could see. He smiled and snapped his fan closed.

"There they are now."

Just as he said that, they all heard three distinct voices, and a second later, these voices were given faces. The first was a tall man older than either Nevax or Onjasx. He had bright orange hair and a large cleaver slung around his shoulder. The second was a blue haired man that had a smaller blade around his waist and what looked like an animals jaw on the side of his face. The third was a boy who looked maybe a year older than Roxas at most with raven black hair and a claymore around strapped around his shoulder.

Their argument -something about mascara (If you read Guardian Angel, you'd get the joke.)- ended when they saw the two cloaked nobodies and the two younger teens. Urahara suddenly appeared between the two groups and continued playing with his fan.

"Good, you're here," he said addressing the group of three, "I need your help with something."

"Oh great, what now," groaned the blue haired one.

Urahara seemed to have just ignored it. "Have you perchance sensed a strange spiritual pressure as of late?"

The orange haired one scratched his head in thought, then snapped his fingers. "Yeah, I did feel something kind of out of place while we were out, but I didn't think much of it, it was kind of faint."

"Good, that means he's still weak." said Nevax to the rest of the group.

"Who's weak?" asked the black haired one.

"It would take too long to explain everything," said Onjasx.

Urahara stepped up. "Listen Ichigo, these people are part of an organization that, for quite some time, have been protecting this world from one of the greatest threats ever known, even more dangerous than the Hollows. Apparently there's someone dangerous enough to catch their attention, which means you're going to help them catch him."

"Alright, I say we go!" shouted the black haired one again.

"Fine, I guess it's not exactly optional." said the one who was obviously Ichigo.

"Whatever," grunted the last one.

"Right then, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," he gestured to the one on his left," that there is Matt Anderson," then he gestured to his right, "and this guy is Grimmjow."

Roxas stepped to the front of his group.

"My name is Roxas," he gestured behind him, "these two are Nevax and Onjasx," then he leaned his head to the right," and that's my best friend Hikari."

"Well, now that you're all introduced, I suggest you get moving," said Urahara, slamming shut his fan again.

They all nodded and headed for the door. Before they could leave though, Urahara stopped them again.

"I do have one question though. How's Xelskyr doing, he stopped by a while ago and seemed a bit off, if that's even technically possible."

"He's a little worse for ware, but he'll live," said Onjasx.

AS they started moving again, Roxas noticed that the black haired one, Matt, was scratching his head.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's just...that name, Xelskyr...it sounds so familiar for some reason. It's like...I should know him or something, but I've never met anyone by that name before." **(LOL!)**

Roxas just shrugged. "You can worry about it later, we've gotta get moving."

He nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

At that, they jumped off to rejoin the others and began their pursuit of Kysrel.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kysrel was working his way through the city as best he could. He had to stay away from the crowds of people, as they'd probably find it strange to see a still heavily wounded teenager running through the streets. He was still in a great deal of pain and his wounds were constantly re-opening. He pushed his way into an unoccupied warehouse so he could rest for a bit. He was still too weak to make it back to his base, and he had no more healing items on him. He had to conserve his strength while he could.

He sat down against a crate and clutched his chest where a particularly nasty gash still plagued him. He sucked in a cold and sharp breath through grinding teeth before he felt a strange presence in the building with him. It was a presence of evil and malice, not unlike his own and whatever was living in that Naruto. Then he heard a voice.

"My, my, such serious wounds, I'm surprised you're not dead yet boy," it said.

Then a body slowly appeared, it seemed to be slowly piecing together from black particles that flowed in from every direction. Kysrel held no fear of this newcomer, rather curiosity. When he was completely pieced together, it revealed someone who was actually younger than him, or he at least looked as much.

"Who, may I ask, are you?"

"Me...I suppose you could call me a friend," he said slyly.

Kysrel grunted. "I have no need of friends, they prove to be nothing but weaknesses and obstacles."

The man in front of him laughed. "Yes, yes, I agree most wholeheartedly. What would you say to a temporary ally then?"

Kysrel stood and defiantly passed him by.

"No, I will say it only once more. I have no need of anyone, I have my own game to play, and you aren't a player."

He laughed again. "The ignorance and stubbornness of youth...it never ceases to astound. Very well boy, I shant meddle in you affairs, you're objectives are your own. However...I am interested in what you plan to do, so I shall heal you and observe your...game."

Kysrel suddenly felt a chilling cold wash over his body as he felt his wounds slide shut. He grunted as it caused him a moderate amount of pain, but he could already feel his strength returning. To test it, he summoned his keyblade. The black blade appeared in his right hand and he inspected it. Once he was satisfied, he grew a mad grin on his face; now it was time to go on the offensive.

"What is your name?" asked Kysrel as he inspected his wrists.

"Astaroth. May I ask yours?"

"Kysrel."

He laughed again. "Well Kysrel, I shall take my leave."

As he began to dissipate into the air in the same manner he arrived, he issued one last statement. "Just remember to give me a good show, I'll be watching."

Kysrel didn't listen to him though, he was too concentrated on making his next move. Besides, this _Astaroth_ was no concern of his. Soon, he would bow down to him like all the rest.

With that, he leaped into the air, heading to meet those who were seeking him out as well.

* * *

"Anybody else feel that?" called out Ichigo.

"If you mean the sudden spike it power, then yes, we noticed," said Nevax.

Roxas felt his stomach churn. That power signature was undoubtedly Kysrels, and it seemed to be almost back to full capacity again. How could he have gain so much strength so fast? When they last saw him he was on the verge of death, and that was only about a day ago! Roxas had to hand it to him, he was pretty resourceful.

Then he felt something that made him even more nervous, and he knew everyone could feel it to. Kysrel was actually head _towards_ them! So not only was he stronger, he was willing to take the seven of them on at once!

"Nevax, are you sure it's still a good idea to try and take him on?" asked Hikari.

"Yeah, I'd have to agree with Hikari here, he's gained a lot of power suddenly," agreed Roxas.

He shook his head. "Trust me, I don't like the change in situation any more than you, but with the seven of us, I think we might still have a shot."

His presence was getting closer by the second, and the darkness he was emitting was almost nauseating. It was only a matter of seconds before he was on them and they would be forced to fight him. He had motivation to fight him though, more than just obligation now. Kysrel had officially went after his family, and that wasn't something he was going to take lying down, he was going to make him pay.

Speaking of the dark keyblade warrior...

"You Fateful...such a persistent bunch!" he called from atop a taller building across the street.

He leaped across the buildings and landed on theirs, right in front of the entire group. Roxas instantly noticed all his wounds were gone, and beside from the fact that the only article of clothing he had left were his tattered black jeans, he was in perfect condition. His hands were already pulsating with dark flames, and his power was increasing, but he didn't make any move to attack.

He suddenly raised both his eyebrows and laughed out loud, and it wasn't a cocky laugh like usually, it was an actual laugh.

"Well, well, long time no see...Ichigo!" he said, still laughing.

That statement put a surprised look on everyone's face, even Ichigo himself. Matt turned to his side and gave him the most questionable look of all of them

"You know this weirdo Ichigo?" he asked.

"I...I think so, he seems sort of familiar."

"I'm hurt Ichigo, you don't remember me? Well, it's not too surprising, I haven't been back here for three years or so."

Ichigo looked to be in serious thought, obviously searching for a memory of when he could have ever met Kysrel before. He stroked his chin for a while before widening his eyes and quickly looked back at him.

"Kysrel...is that seriously you?" he asked.

"Holy crap he actually _does_ know this guy!" shouted Matt.

He ignored the shouting and slowly stepped forward, not letting his eyes leave the keybearer before them.

"Kysrel, what happened to you? Last I heard...you were dead," he said, utter shock flowing out his voice.

"Who is this dude Ichigo?" asked Grimmjow.

He still didn't move an inch from where he was standing. "He's...and old friend, or at least he used to be."

(A/N: Like I said, this will all be explained in more detail in Fateful XIII: Rewind.)

"So hold up, is this the guy we're after or not!?" shouted Grommjow.

"Well yeah but-" Roxas started.

Before he could even finish his sentence, the arrancar shot forward and unsheathed his blade.

"Then let's just get this over with!"

He thrust his blade forward at Kysrels face, only to strike thin air as he moved to the side at the last second. A second later, Grimmjow felt something grip onto his ankle, and before he knew what was going on, he was spinning around in a circle until he was flung straight through three buildings. Kysrel turned back to the remaining six of them and smirked.

"Next?" he said confidently.

Matt stepped forward before anyone else could, pulling free his claymore.

"Let me take a crack at him."

He held out his blade and summoned his reiatsu, and shouted his release command.

"_Bring Heavens Wrath_: **Gabriel!**"

Matt was instantly engulfed in bright flames and his power increased substantially. Roxas and Hikari watched with interest as they disappeared as quickly as they appeared. When they were gone, they could see Matts blade was now ablaze with an ever-burning fire, and his normal black robes were now snow white.

He lifted the blade and pointed at Kysrel.

"Try this one on for size."

He twirled his blade, lifted it into the air and slashed downward as he yelled out, "_Sanctus Incendia!_"

A wave of bright flames blasted forward from his sword and crashed its way toward Kysrel. With a simple swipe of the hand though, the flames were disrupted and blown to the wind with Kysrel unharmed.

"Is that all you have?"

Matt clenched his teeth and growled. He charged forward like Grimmjow, and slashed out at him. He ducked under the attack and moved behind him, kicking him in the back of the head. Matt lost his balance, but jumped off the building, then vaulted off the building across the street to come about and attack Kysrel again. Kysrel summoned his keyblade and blocked the second attack, pushing Matt back in the process.

Before he could fully recover, Kysrel was already on him and kicked him in the chin, sending him high into the sky. As he reached the arc of his trajectory, Kysrel appeared above him and slammed his foot down on Matts head, sending him crashing back down to earth. He landed in the streets with a loud crash.

Kysrel gently floated down to the crater where Matt was getting back up, using his claymore for support. He looked up at him as he raised his Keyblade to strike him, only to have someone grab his wrist, holding his hand and blade in place. He looked back to see none other than Ichigo impeding his kill.

He let out a small laugh and smirked. Like lightning, he shot his free elbow back and nailed Ichigo in the gut, blowing him down to the end of the street. He delivered a swift kick to Matts chest to make certain he didn't interrupt, then turned his attention back to Ichigo.

As he walked down the street, he saw a sudden flash of movement. He moved to the side just in time to avoid Ichigo's blade, though it did nick his cheek, causing a small trickle of blood to drip down. He looked over at his former friend and saw a skeletal mask on his face. He smiled as he felt an unnatural amount of darkness suddenly coming from him, something he'd never felt from him before.

"Well, that's new," he smirked.

"I've never had to use it on you before, then again, I never thought I'd have to. Why are you doing this, we're friends, why are you attacking us!?"

His smirk disappeared and a cold and stoic face replaced it.

"Your friend died years ago; you're nothing but a stranger to me now," he said bluntly.

"Fine, if this is how it has to be," he said sullenly.

Without wasting any more time, Ichigo charged forward to attack the person he used to call friend. The two exchanged blows, but neither could break through the other's defenses. Ichigo could tell though, that Kysrel was mearly toying with him for the moment, he could have used his powers to gain the upper hand at any time, but it seemed that he was trying to draw out the fight. That sickening smile was creeping onto his, signalling that he was enjoying himself.

After almost two minutes of constant clashing of blades, the two broke apart. Neither were tired or injured in the slightest, it was almost a formality, like a warm-up. Kysrel was about to move forward again when his keyblade hand suddenly went numb. He looked down and saw that it was encased in ice.

A second later, Nevax jumped down, his hands glowing ice-blue from his ice magic. He began firing rapid ice spells in an atempt to freeze him, all of which he was easily able to dodge. As he closed in on the redheaded spell-caster, a huge hammer came slamming down in front off him. He back flipped and avoided both the attack and the shock-wave that followed.

He landed and looked up. Onjasx was now brandishing his spiked war-hammer and was ready to counter another of Kysrel's attacks. The hammer wielding earth-warrior leaped at him, and smashed the ground where he had been standing a second ago. As he flew into the air, more of Nevax's ice spells flew at him, which he was again able to dodge. A blur of movement to his left caught his attention though.

He brought up his keyblade and blocked Matt's claymore, which was now burning with a white flame. In fact, his entire wardrobe was entirely different. He was now wearing a white trench-coat with shoulder plates and a white robe bottom. His body and face were also covered in glowing runes. The biggest change though, were the two ivory white wings sprouting from his back.

"Back again?" he asked cockily.

"Two kicks aren't gonna take me down!" Matt shouted back.

"Hn."

He suddenly disappeared from Matts view. He looked up to see that he was now at least fifty feet above him. Kysrel looked around and saw that three people weren't accounted for. A second later, he figured out where they were. He looked behind him and saw Grimmjow in a new form. He looked a bit like a panther/human hybrid; but it was what he was carrying that caught his true interest.

He brought both his arms back and hurtled both Roxas and Hikari at him like keyblade missiles. He blocked both of them at once with his own keyblade.

"Even you've improved, this day is full of surprises!" he shouted happily.

He pushed with his keyblade and knocked them both back, causing them to fall back down to the earth. Roxas pushed Hikari down to make her fall faster, then cast an Aero spell to cushion her fall to almost nothing. Then as he fell, he focused all his energy in his blade and called forth an Omnislash.

He began glowing bright with a light aura and he felt Oathkeeper take over his movements. Soon he was flying back up at Kysrel, much to his surprise. His speed had increased almost three fold by activating the Omnislash, and he thanked Cloud for taking the time to explaining the secret behind his best attack.

Kysrel had no problems deflecting the attacks of the Omnislash, but he marveled at how much the younger keybearer had truely improved; his nobody had done wonders with his form. In fact, even he had to admit that Roxas was learning at quite a fast pace, and had a genuine shot at reaching his and Xelskyr's level of strength given the proper...conditioning.

When the attack finally wore off, Roxas let himself fall, but not before perfoming a Strike Raid attack. Another attack Kysrel was able to deflect, but it again just showed how much he was improving. Roxas re-summoned his keyblade and cast another Aero spell to cushion his own fall.

Meanwhile, back in the air. Grimmjow fired five of his darts from his elbow and the missile-like spikes rocketed forward, intending to impale the dark keyblader. He deflected all five of them, sending them flying off into different directions before detonating, filling the sky with explosions.

Through the smoke the explosions created, Ichigo appeared, his eyes practically glowing with rage. Due to the recoil of deflecting the darts, he couldn't reach up with his keyblade in time, and a monster of a Getsuga Tensho exploded into him. He was sent rocketing down into the ground, bouncing off the concrete and slamming into a building wall. He rose from the crumbling concrete and dusted himself off before returning his attention to his seven opponents.

They now encircled him in a half circle. Matt, Ichigo, Roxas, and Hikari all had their blades raised to him. Grimmjow was in a cat-like crouched position, Nevax's hands were glowing with a build up of ice magic, and Onjasx was hefting his war-hammer. Kysrel smirked, this was going to be fun.

He brought a hand forward and waved two fingers toward himself, "Come."

* * *

**Aright, that concludes chapter 19. **

**Show of hands: for those of you who've been reading Guardian Angel II, who thought it was funny that my two antagonists (Kysrel and Astaroth of course) met up with each other? It was just a little joke for you guys to enjoy.**

--

**Now I have some news to lay on all of you that's kinda important. See, I've come to the decision that the Fateful XIII will be divided up into two parts. This is obviously the first part, and it will be ending in another few chapters. I'm doing this for three reasons.**

**1.) It'll be way too long for my tastes if I don't.  
**

**2.) A big event is coming that will shock and awe you (not exaggerating), and a time skip is necessary.**

**3.) I want to begin my work on Fateful XIII: Rewind, and this'll give me some leeway. **

**So, I'll continue to work on the story, but right now, I've gotta start my work on the next Guardian Angel II chapter, so I'll see ya as soon as possible.**

**Remember to Review.**


	22. Chapter 20: Villain of a Sort

**Fateful XIII  
**

Chapter 20

Villain of a Sort

**Disclaimer: **Noooooooooooo.

I'm back again my Mind Slave- uh...I mean...uh, faithful readers! Disregarding that last sentence, we'll just keep rollin' on with the story. By my estimation we have about...say maybe four or five more chapters before the time skip that will divide up the story. I probably won't work on Fateful XIII for a while after this first half is done. But fret not! I'll have Fateful XIII: Rewind out to keep you tied over until such time that I have the plot for the second half finalized.

On happier news though, this story officially reached the 1000 hits mark a few days ago! WOO HOO! Thanks so much guys for all your support and time! Even with me being gone for about a month, and another popular story going on, this one still managed to stay on top all the way! I love you guys, I really do.

**NOTE:** Someone is going to die in this chapter...just try and guess who!

Come, lets continue with the second chapter in the Bleach arc.

_

* * *

Previously:_

_They surrounded him in a half circle. Matt, Ichigo, Roxas, and Hikari all had their blades raised to him. Grimmjow was in a cat-like crouched position, Nevax's hands were glowing with a build up of ice magic, and Onjasx was hefting his war-hammer. Kysrel smirked, this was going to be fun._

_He brought a hand forward and waved two fingers toward himself, "Come."_

* * *

"This is your last chance Kysrel! I don't want to kill you, but I will if I have to!" shouted Ichigo.

Kysrel continued to act amused by the whole situation. "I'm sorry Ichigo, but I seriously doubt you'd be able to kill me. I'm not that naive child that you met years ago."

"Fine, I guess this is how it ends then. I never thought I'd be helping to kill you," he said sullenly.

Kysrel only smiled confidently. "Don't mourn too much; I would have come after you eventually anyway."

"I guess you were right then…the friend I knew died a long time ago."

Ichigo only sighed and his blade began to glow red at the tip. Everyone could feel his power spiking and they all followed suit, charging their own attacks. Matt prepared another _Sanctus Incendia, _Roxas and Hikari both charged Thundaga spells, Grimmjow prepared to fire a compliment of ten explosive darts, Nevax charged up a massive ice spell, and Onjasx had his hammer in a position like he was going to slam it into the ground.

Even with all the attacks that were being prepared around him, Kysrel still stood there with that air of superiority that he always had, and held his keyblade casually.

"Goodbye," muttered Ichigo before letting his cero blast fly.

Immediately after, Roxas and Hikari let loose their Thundaga spells, sending crackly lighting out of their blades and right at their opponent. Grimmjow blasted all his darts, and Matt fired his _Sanctus Incendia. _Onjasx pounded the ground, sending a narrow shock-wave at Kysrel, while Nevax released his ice spell, sending freezing magic into the mix. All the attacks melded into one large explosion at their focusing point; Kysrel.

As they had fired their attacks though, Kysrel had prepared for the ensuing blast. He encased himself in a aura of darkness and slashed his keyblade forward, meeting the energy with the mystic blade. When the two forces clashed, there as a huge influx and out-flux of energies that resulted in an explosion that engulfed the entire street intersection they were battling in.

When the mass of smoke and debris cleared, Kysrel was left standing, if not a bit worn out from the effort. He was extremely powerful, but deflecting all those attacks at once was taxing even for him. Even with the protection of the dark aura and his keyblade, he didn't make it out unscathed. His hands and forearms were slightly burned, and his palms and knuckles were bleeding from gripping his keyblade so hard_. _

He was forced to lean on his keyblade a little until he regained his balance, then began to survey the damage. The building he'd been standing in front of had been blown completely in half, the parts of the street where all the attacks and traveled and exploded were ravaged with craters and massive cracks, and plenty of parked cars had been flipped over and onto their sides.

Kysrels seven opponents were all still standing as well, it seemed the explosion hadn't seriously harmed them either.When they saw him, they all wore expressions of either shock, anger, or confusion.

"How...how did you survive?" asked Ichigo.

"I didn't expect that to work, I've seen him survive worse than that," said Roxas, his eyes still trained on Kysrel.

Kysrel sneered. "You should listen to him Ichigo! I've already told, I'm not the naive child you met three years ago, I've become stronger than all of you combined!"

_'He's right, his power is off the charts! How!? _ I_ couldn't even make that large a jump in strength in three years!' _he mentally shouted.

Ichigo was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the blare of police and EMS sirens. He silently cursed their bad luck and turned to the rest of the group.

"We need to move this battle fast!" he shouted.

They all nodded, but it was already too late, the first police car rounded the corner. Two more followed in its wake and they all skidded to a stop at the entrance of the intersection and exited their cars. They drew their pistols; a few aimed at Kysrel, and the others aimed at Roxas, Hikari, Onjasx, and Nevax.

"You guys need to get out of here, they can't see me, Grimmjow, or Matt, but you're completely visible!" said Ichigo.

"Drop your weapons!" the officers shouted.

The four of them didn't make any sudden moved, but Kysrel was another story. He charged his free hand with dark energy and extended his hand.

"Begone."

With that he fired a swarm of dark blasts that completely engulfed the officers as they attempted to flee from his attack. Their cars exploded and their bodies were thrown half-way down the street where they lay mangled and charred. Kysrel simply lowered his hand and spit on the ground before returning his attention to the group.

"There, now we can continue."

Without even waiting for a reply, he dashed forward and sliced his keyblade through the air, nearly taking off Ichigo's head had he not ducked. Everyone instantly jumped back into action after the initial attack. Grimmjow was the first to reach him, delivering quick and accurate kicks with his powerful legs. Kysrel deflected them all just as accurately with the blunt side of his keyblade.

Matt used shunpo and appeared behind him, only to slice open air and Kysrel leaped into the air and engaged Ichigo. They exchange a few clashes of the blade before the dark keyblader was able to slam his foot into his former friends face before intentionally falling back to earth. Nevax was atop a nearby building, firing off more ice blasts like a turret in an attempt to impede his movement for the others in the group. He countered all the blasts with magic attacks of his own, canceling out the spells with those of equal force.

As he closed in on the ground, Onjasx jumped up to meet him with his war-hammer. He swung with the giant weapon, nearly bludgeoning Kysrel in the back of the skull, only to have him disappear again with his superior speed. Kysrel landed safely in the street, but was immediately confronted by both Roxas and Hikari.

He rushed to meet them. Roxas began engaging him in combat from his front, while Hikari was attacking from the rear. Kysrel managed to fend off both of them at the same time, constantly moving his keyblade from his front to his back, deflecting the other two keyblade wielders.

With a swift motion, he ducked under two simultaneous horizontal slashes by the two of them, and swept his left leg under Roxas', knocking him to the ground, and then pushed himself back with his right, planting his elbow in Hikari's chest. With the two of them dispatched, he jumped atop a building to gain more maneuverability.

Even there he wasn't given respite, as Matt appeared again, attacking from behind. Kysrel deflected the attack with his keyblade then leaped backwards across the street to the neighboring building. There, Grimmjow made a return as will, slicing at him with his claws. Even Kysrel had to admit that his speed was impressive, but he was still faster.

After swiftly ducking under a swipe with his right claw, Kysrel took the opening and gashed him on his lower waist, staining his keyblade with the arrancars blood. Ichigo was on the scene in and instant, unleashing a Getsuga Tensho from above. Kysrel rolled to avoid it, only to have his foot stuck in place by Nevax and one of his ice spells that had managed to hit him in his flurry of movement.

He admitted this; they were a relentless bunch.

He broke his foot from the magically enhanced ice and somersaulted out of the way of Ichigo and a second Getsuga Tensho, then through his keyblade up over his head and blocked another attempt to flatten him by Onjasx and his hammer. Just as he threw Onjasx back, Matt was on him again. They exchanged about a dozen or so blows between blades, then became locked in a power struggle as each of them pushed to gain dominance.

Kysrel flipped his keyblade in his hands, turning both their tips down to the ground. In response to this, Matt took a deep breath and gathered his reiatsu. Kysrel, feeling the build in power, threw up a dark shield with his free hand. As it took form, Matt unleashed a jet of white flames from his mouth that licked as his legs and burned the air around him. The spell held off the flames though, and when they finally died down, he disengaged the spell and blasted Matt in the chest, sending him flying off down the street.

As he approached the edge of the building, he was greeted with the sight of Roxas running up its length at him, which was impressive seeing as the building was about twelve stories. half way up, he sent his keyblade at Kysrel with another Strike Raid. Kysrel jumped off the building, passing over Oathkeeper, and met Roxas about three fourths of the way up the building. He stuck out his hand and planted his palm firmly over Roxas' face, gaining a hold on his head.

They both hit the ground together, Kysrel in a kneeling position, and Roxas with half his skull in the concrete. Hikari was instantly there to help him, as she attacked Kysrel on all on her own. He was easily able to parry her attacks with just one hand on his blade, and noted that Roxas and her fought best as a team; an important fact to remember later on.

He quickly disposed of her with a uppercut to her chin and sent her flying into the air. Grimmjow, who was on his way down to attack him again, collided face first with the girl, knocking them both off course. _ (A/N: Attack of the Chick Missile!)_

Ichigo engaged him again, firing a small cero at him from his blade. With a strong swing of his keyblade and some dark energy, he deflected it and sent it straight into a nearby building, drilling a hole into its side. He then sidestepped as Onjasx came down and slammed his hammer into the ground where he'd previously been standing. The hammer wielding nobody hefted it again and made another strong swipe with his spiked weapon.

While he lifted it again for a third attack, Kysrel dashed at him, slicing his keyblade through the weapons handle, severing the grip from the rest of the weapon. The head fell to the ground with a _thud_, and Onjasx eyes widened as his hammer was destoryed in an instant. Kysrel smirked and flipped his keyblade so that he held it reverse style and thrust it backwards, piercing Onjasx's chest. The black blade stabbed straight through his chest cavity.

Kysrel swiftly yanked it out and followed up his deadly move by twirling to Onjasx's front and ended him with two quick but deep slashes to his lower abdomen. Onjasx's eyes widened again, even larger this time, and he stumbled backwards. He faded out of the world before he even hit the ground.

Everyone stood where they were -whether it was in the air, on the ground, or atop buildings- and watched. For a moment or two, everything was still as the sudden casualty was absorbed by everyone who'd seen it; then Kysrel began laughing his sick laugh.

"I love it, you just come to me like lambs to a slaughter, I love it!" he laughed.

Roxas stood there at the base of the building Kysrel had last attacked him at and had a look of disgust on his face. He found himself wondering how he could be producing more hatred toward a human than he could a Heartless. That was two people now, two people he knew, even considered friends that he'd killed.

He actually felt a few tears streak his face as he watched Onjasx's hammer fade away. Kysrel finally finished laughing and settled down before addressing everyone who was left.

"It's been enjoyable everyone, I especially liked seeing you again Ichigo. Unfortunately, I have other matters that I feel require my attention, so I bid you a fond farewell," he said, seeming oddly joyous.

"Don't fret though, I'll leave you with a fond farewell gift!" he shouted, suddenly sounding much more sinister.

He snapped is fingers and in a matter of seconds, hundreds of heartless began to swarm the streets. The Neo-shadows hopped around on the concrete like mindless animals and twitched in an almost insect like manner. Kysrel waved to them in a mocking manner, then transported himself off the world with a corridor. He'd gotten away _again_.

Luckily, Roxas had an outlet for his anger. He grabbed Oathkeeper and screamed wildly as he charged into the mass of heartless. He slashed with no real strategy other than to kill as many as he could get to before they began to spread out, and was managing to slice at least two or three out of existence with every swipe.

He snuck a few glances around him between combos and saw that Hikari, Grimmjow, and Ichigo had joined the fray and were slicing away at the heartless as well. Matt was doing flybys while breathing out jets of flames, roasting every heartless he flew over. Meanwhile, Nevax was raining down more ice spells, freezing dozens of heartless with single blasts.

In only a few minutes of fighting, and over half their numbers had been eliminated, and the rest fled out of fear of certain defeat. Roxas was left leaning on his knees and panting while sweat dripped from his brow. The fighting against Kysrel and the heartless mob had left everyone tired. Hikari wobbled over to him and he helped support her and walked her over to the sidewalk cub where she could sit, as she was still a bit disoriented from the uppercut that Kysrel had given her.

Nevax joined them soon after, putting on a face that held neither sadness nor happiness; the face of a nobody. Matt was panting as well and disengaged the form he was in, reverting back to his black robes and shoulder mounted, metal claymore. Grimmjow was back in his original form to, clutching his side where Kysrel had sliced his side open. Ichigo though, seemed eerily calm.

Roxas walked up to him and stood next to him as he looked up into the sky. He realized halfway through the fight that both Ichigo and Matt looked familiar, and he remembered his dream again. It seemed like he was meeting everyone he didn't already recognize from his dream. First it was Rhys, then it was Julia, now Matt and Ichigo. As far as he remembered, there was only one person who he still didn't recognize, and he wasn't here, so he that meant he was probably on another world.

Still, that wasn't what he was planning on telling Ichigo. For whatever reason, and however it had happened, Ichigo had know Kysrel, obviously before he'd temporarily lost his heart and discarded his light. It was an odd thought, thinking of Kysrel any other way than an psychotic evil maniac that didn't seem to know how do die right.

"Hey," said Roxas.

Ichigo offered no response, he just kept staring at the sky.

Roxas sighed. "Look, I don't know what Kysrel was like three years ago, back when you knew him. What I do know is that the guy you knew isn't in there anymore, he's changed and he's gunning for something big. He went after my little sister the other day; if there hadn't been someone there...I shudder to think what he would've done to her."

Still no response; of course, Roxas didn't even think he was helping all that much. He still continued though.

"Something I think you should know though, is that the goodness in him isn't gone, it just...moved. It moved to another person, and I know that sounds weird, but the friend you used to know isn't completely gone."

He still stood there, and Roxas didn't have anything left to say, so he turned around and headed back to the others. He stopped though, when Ichigo suddenly began speaking.

"I've...got sisters to. They're twins, probably around your age, so trust me when I say I can imagine how you feel," he said.

"I remember when I first met Kysrel, he was just a kid then, he was naive and happy, not a care in the world. The way you spoke to me just now...kind of reminded me of him. It's hard to believe such a great guy could turn out the way he did."

It was Roxas' turn to remain silent. He wasn't sure if he like being compared to Kysrel like that, or at all for that matter. Still, he assumed it was a compliment, so he held his tongue. Ichigo finally came completely back to reality and turned around to face Roxas.

"Come on, we should get back to Urahara. We can get our wounds treated there, and plan the next move."

Roxas nodded. "Right."

The two of them rejoined the rest of the group, and they hurried back to the shop before they attracted any more attention, whether it be from the citizens, or the police. All Roxas knew was that this still wasn't over, and they'd be off to a new world soon, to fight in another battle. Hopefully it would got better than this one had.

**

* * *

And that's that! Chapter 20 is over and Onjasx is dead. Damn, the Fateful are starting to drop like flies, let's hope this doesn't become a trend. Remember, only about five or so chapters until the time skip, so prepare yourselves. **

**I'd like to thank you all again for over 1000 hits, you guys are oh so lovely like that. **

**Every time you don't review, a new heartless is born to join Kysrels army, and you don't want that do you? No? Well then, there's a little button right there that'll make sure that doesn't happen. The more you review, the safer you are, remember that.**


	23. Chapter 21: Darkside of the Moon

**Fateful XIII**

Chapter 21

Darkside of the Moon

**Disclaimer: **Cheesy Poofs (I got bored)

I'm back again. I'm sorry to say that the Bleach arc will be coming to a close already. I know, I know, it was short and sweet, but fear not, Ichigo and Matt will return in later chapters with a bang, and they'll stick around for quite some time. The good news about this chapter is that for all you Kairi haters out there who say she's weak, then prepare to have your opinions changed.

Also, something big is going to happen to Roxas in this chapter, something that will change the course of the story. I bet you're all curious and such now.

Breaking News: Due to my extreme impatience with myself, I decided to put up the first chapter of Fateful XIII: Rewind. I demand that all of you reading this now go and read the first chapter after you're done reading this chapter here!

The faster we start then the faster we get done! Let's GO, GO, GO!

* * *

Back at Urahara's shop, everyone was given bandages and medicine for their wounds. Grimmjow was give a fairly larger amount because of his wound on his side, but it didn't seem to be bothering him. What remained of the group was sitting in one of Urahara's back rooms discussing what had happened.

"I still don't get exactly who that guy was," complained Matt.

Ichigo shook his head. "Better you don't. I'm not even technically supposed to know who he is, I sort of found out by accident. All I'll say is that I already know about the Heartless and all the stuff pertaining to it."

It was Roxas' turn to speak up. "You mean you know about the other…ya know," he finished his sentence by pointing up at the sky.

Ichigo nodded. "Yep; like I said, I found out by accident."

"Found what out by accident, what the hell are you guys talking about!?" shouted Matt.

Ichigo waved him off. "I'll tell you later; right now, I need to know what we're going to do about Kysrel. It looks like he's lost more than a few of his marbles since I last saw him, and I don't feel comfortable with him running around everywhere."

"Don't worry; we've got our methods of tracking him. In fact, we're probably going to get a notice as to where he is any second now," said Nevax.

He nodded. "I don't suppose I could come with you, huh?"

"Afraid not, if you know what we know, then you also know the rules; we're to keep our influence to a minimal," said Nevax.

"Yeah, I figured as much. Don't hesitate to come ask for help though, this is sort of a personal thing for me now. I want him stopped, and the sooner the better."

Just then, the earpiece which was in Nevax's ear crackled, and Rhys' voice could be heard on the other end.

"_Hey, we just got confirmation of another singularity. Kysrel's on the move again,_" he said.

"Do you know where? He's recovered a lot of his strength; wherever he goes, he'll be able to cause a lot of damage."

"_Just a sec, Casper's working on the coordinates now_," there was a silence over the COM, followed by, "_oh crap._"

That sent a chill and a shot of worry through all but Nevax, his inability to feel fear and worry let him keep a cool head. He continued his line of questions.

"What is it Rhys?"

"_He's heading back to Destiny Islands_," he said in a grave tone.

"What!?" shouted Roxas and Hikari in unison.

Roxas ran up to Nevax and gripped his coat, shaking him violently and yelling, "Let's get going, we have to get back!"

Nevax put his palm on Roxas' forehead and pushed him back, causing him to fall to the floor. He put his fingers back up to the earpiece. 'calm down' he mouthed to him as he rejoined the conversation with Rhys.

"Alright, we need to get moving ASAP so we'll be using a corridor to get directly to Destiny Island. Have the Boeotia jump to hyperspace and get there as fast as you can. We'll try and keep Kysrel busy and lead him to an isolated area of the islands. When you get there, lock onto his position and open up on him from orbit. We'll do our best to get clear, but don't hesitate," Nevax explained

There was a pause over the COM before Rhys spoke up again. "_Got it._"

With that, Nevax closed the channel and created a dark corridor. Roxas didn't even wait for it to completely form, and he jumped through before anyone else. Hikari followed close behind, and Nevax bid everyone farewell before stepping through as well.

* * *

Roxas was propelled out of the other side a bit faster than he would have liked, but it did give him a little bit of a speed boost. He raced away from his starting point like a bullet from a gun. He noticed that they had appeared on the main island and fear shot up through his spine. He hadn't been away from home for more than an hour in a half which meant that both his sister and mother were in danger if Kysrel was on the main island.

He heard Hikari running behind him from a distance and Nevax was undoubtedly following to, probably quite a ways back since he was the last one in. He shot down the downtown streets, not paying any mind to the familiar faces who greeted him as he ran past.

He was paying so little attention that he was almost hit by a car twice, but seemed to not have noticed and kept running. He rounded the last corner on the outskirts of the downtown area and was finally hitting the start of the suburbs where he lived. He felt a swell of relief when he saw no one in the immediate area of his home, that was until he was the entire front half of his house explode.

To his surprise though, it was Kysrel, not his mother or sister, that was blown out of his home and into the house across the street. From the wreckage of his home emerged his mother with her keyblade in hand, but she was completely different from normal. Her calm and loving expression was now stone cold and stoic, and he noticed that her forehead and the side of her head were both bleeding.

Her outfit was different to; she was normally wearing some sort of sundress, but now she was in gray cargo pants and a dark green sleeveless shirt. This was completely unlike how his mother was normally, she looked...awesome.

Kysrel roared and blew apart the entire house that had collapsed on him. He snarled as she frustratedly stomped back out into the street.

"Why is there _always_ someone in my way!?" he shouted.

Roxas rushed toward the battle and stood in between the two, a little off to the side. Kysrel looked over at him and snarled again.

"You again, you don't know when to give up Roxas!" he shouted angrily again.

Hearing her sons name being called, she looks over to see him with Oathkeeper drawn, staring back at Kysrel with a burning rage in his eyes.

"Roxas, let me handle this, go stay with your sister!" she called.

He snapped out of his trance and nodded. He raced into the ruins of his house, not seeing Namine anywhere, and began to worry. The stairs to what remained of the upstairs were demolished, and he doubted she was up there anyway, all that was up there was his room, a storage closet, and the second bathroom. He walked into the kitchen, which was scorched beyond belief, and jumped through the broken glass sliding door, into the backyard.

He looked around, and heard a quiet whimpering coming from behind one of the bushes. He pushed away the leaves and saw his little sister hunched into a little ball, tears streaming down her face. When she heard the bushes rustle, she instinctively got up to run, but tripped in her fear and landed on her stomach.

"Whoa, whoa, relax Nami, it's me," said Roxas soothingly.

She got up and looked up at her older brother before running straight for him and burying her face in his stomach. She sobbed loudly as Roxas knelt down hugged her.

"Come on Nami; Hikari is here to, we'll keep you safe."

She was crying too much to respond, but was able to nod, signaling Roxas to pick her up and carry her away from the fighting. He ran into the neighbors front yard and looked back at the battle between Kysrel and his mom. He actually stopped and watched in awe as his mother, the woman always worrying about his safety, who was always against him taking over his dads work, who always embarrassed him in public...was kicking Kysrel's ass. Maybe not as bad as Xelskyr and Xealx did, but she was definitely doing some damage.

Namine to forgot her fear for the moment and was absorbed into their mothers fighting.

Kysrel had just been knocked down the street a ways, and rose again, charging with his keyblade ready to attack. He roared as he approached Kairi, only to slice into the air as she leaped back, then immediately dashed forward again, planting her left foot on the tip of Kysrel's blade, lodging it into the ground. She then used her right foot and brought it up on his chin,doing a back-flip and knocking Kysrel into the air. She was in the air faster than Roxas could blink and brought the same foot down on the top of his head, blowing him back down to the hard concrete of the streets below.

She fell back to the earth a while later, landing gracefully a few meters away from the crater that currently housed Kysrel. She spun her keyblade elegantly in her hand until finally letting it rest over her shoulder, reminding Roxas of his father, who did a similar motion whenever he finished a fight.

She looked back at them and frowned.

"Don't just stand there, get going. I can't do this forever you know!" she shouted.

Roxas nervously nodded, suddenly unsure of who to be more afraid of. As he was about to turn around though, a black blur swiveled through his peripheral vision. Before he even knew what was going on, he was on his stomach, and Namine was screaming. When he finally did regain his bearings, he saw that Namine was running back the way that had come, and Kysrel was standing over him, going after her.

Out of instinct, he grabbed his ankle with his right hand, causing the older keyblade master to fall onto his stomach as well. He rolled into his back and began kicking Roxas in the face with his free leg.

"Let go of me!" he shouted.

He held on for a few good seconds until the force of the blows loosened his grip and Kysrel was free, instanly rolling backwards and onto his feet. His freedom was short lived though, when his feet suddenly stopped moving. He looked down, and saw that his feet were frozen to the ground. He screamed in rage; why was kidnapping one seven year old girl harder than destroying an entire world?

Roxas looked back to see Hikari and Nevax arriving on the scene. Hikari helped him up while Nevax summoned his weapon, something neither of them had ever seen before. It was a long oar, but to individual axe blades had been bolted onto either side, making it almost like a double halberd or a huge double bladed execution axe.

He swung it at Kysrel, which he ducked under. He yanked his feet forward, shattering the ice and breaking into a run again. Nevax and Roxas both chased after him with Hikari taking up the rear. Nevax dared not fire any ice spells for fear of hitting Namine, so they had to wait until they caught up to him to attack.

Meanwhile, Kysrel was closing in on Namine, as was Kairi. The two raced at the little girl at top speed, each trying to reach her before the other. Behind Kysrel, Roxas had taken the lead, only two or three meters from Kysrel in distance.

As they were on the final stretch, Kysrel made a dive, and at the same time created a corridor in front of the girl. As he flew forward, he grabbed her by her arm, and slid into the dark pathway.

"No!" shouted Roxas.

He made a similar move as Kysrel; diving forward at the corridor, and flew through it just before it closed, cutting off Hikari and Nevax. All three of them -Hikari, Nevax, and Kairi- stood there, still absorbing what just happened. Hikari was the first to speak.

"He's gone."

* * *

On the other side of the corridor, Roxas rolled onto the ground, but still managed to push himself up and attack Kysrel who was standing calmly in front of him. He stopped himself though, when he was that he was still holding his sister and his keyblade was against her neck. He backed away, but still held Oathkeeper tightly.

He looked around at the new environment. It was dark, really dark. Everything was black, the sand, the rocks, the sky, even the water was a shade of gray. The only source if light was a full moon floating gently above the ocean of the beach, underneath a web of stones that seemed to arc out of the water. Roxas however, turned his attention back to Kysrel.

"Let her go," he demanded.

Kysrel laughed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"Why, what do you need her for!?" he shouted.

"Leverage of course. You see I have a proposition for you," he said, beginning to walk in a circle around him.

"You see, I've been watching you for quite some time, longer than you know. I've seen you increase in skill and witnessed your will to learn," he began.

"I was planning on confronting you eventually, but Xelskyr beat me to you. What I want is for you to join me Roxas, I know Xelskyr and his companions have been training you, but believe me when I say that I can triple whatever kind of training they can give you. I can grant you power like you've only dreamed, and I do this because I see your talent and your dissatisfaction with your current level of strength," he said slyly, still circling him.

Roxas scoffed. "You honestly think I'd join you just for power? I'd rather train for a thousand years than learn from you!"

Kysrel laughed again. "I expected that kind of response from you, you're defiant and independent, another reason I think you have the potential to surpass even me. To answer you question though," he said, showing him Namine and the blade that was still at her neck, "that's why she's here."

"The deal will be; I will give you all the power you could ever want and more, and leave your sister unharmed. All you have to do for me, is follow my every order."

"And if I refuse!?" shouted Roxas.

A smirk grew on Kysrel's face. "Then I make you watch as I slowly slice her throat open, then I kill you."

Roxas growled as the conflicting thoughts ran around in his head. On the one hand, both his and his sisters lives were at stake if he refused, but at the same time, was he really willing to throw himself at the mercy of Kysrel, to be his lapdog? He raised his head and looked into Namine's eyes, he saw the fear behind them, the desperation to break free and run away. He knew from experience that alone, he had not chance to beat Kysrel.

If what he said was true, if he could make him stronger, then he'd let him. He'd use him to get more powerful until he could take him on and kill him by himself, then he'd take Namine home and all this would be over. This whole situation could actually work to his advantage.

He stood straight and nodded.

"Fine, I guess I don't have a choice. If you keep Namine safe, then I'll serve you."

He smirked and stepped forward. "Kneel."

"What?"

"Kneel," he demanded again.

Roxas wanted nothing more than to slug him, but bit back his anger and dropped to one knee instead and lowered his head. He heard Kysrel's blade move from Namine's neck, and took up a new position with its tip against his forehead. he was confused as to what exactly he was doing, until he felt a sharp pain run down his head, and into his chest.

He fell backwards and screamed in pain; it felt like something was inside his chest ripping his heart apart piece by piece. He ripped his shirt in an attempt to claw out whatever was inside him causing all the pain. His throat was burning from the involuntary blaring noise coming from his mouth, and tears were streaming down the side of his face.

After a grueling, agonizing minute, the pain died and his screams stopped. He coughed a few times before rolling over and vomiting on the dark sand. He staggered up, panting heavily and wiping the tears off his face.

"What...what did you...?"

"I gave you power over darkness, try it. Just snap your fingers," he ordered.

Roxas complied and snapped his fingers. Instantly, ten heartless appeared around them, and stood in a relaxed position, awaiting command. Roxas had to admit, that _was_ kind of cool.

"That's not all, summon your keyblade."

Roxas was actually a little eager to see what kind of changes Oathkeeper had gone through. He held out his hand, and the normal white flash of light, was replaced by a black surge of dark electricity.

His white bladed keyblade was now black as night, and the heart symbol at the tip of the blade was now in the shape of the heartless emblem. The teeth on the edge of the tip were now more jagged and sharp; more deadly. The guard was now more violent looking as well, replacing the angel like wings with dragon wing shaped guards like on Hikari's keyblade. The basic layout of the blade remained more or less the same though.

He looked at it with a sort of fondness, like it had always been that way, but was something new at the same time.

"...Oathbreaker," he muttered.

"That's its name now, Oathbreaker," he said louder.

Kysrel chuckled quietly as he turned to leave. "A fitting name."

"Hey, where are you taking her!?" he demanded.

"Relax, she will be held in a special room in my base. You may visit her whenever you wish," he said as he carried her away.

"That reminds me, catch. When your done putting it on, come to the base."

He suddenly turned back around and threw something at him. Roxas caught it and unfolded it. Whatever it was, it was made of a leather-like fabric. When it was fully unraveled, he stood there looking at a night black coat with a large hood and zipper. He recognized it instantly as an Organization XIII coat.

"How will I know where your base is?"

He sighed and pointed into the distance. there stood a large stone column with a few dim light dotting its surface. He wondered how he never noticed it before. He decided not to worry about it, and watched Kysrel disappear with his sister into the distance.

Roxas sighed and slipped on the coat. It actually fit quite nicely, and it was warm. Once it was on, he sighed again and looked out at the moon; he took solace in the fact that there was at least one source of light in this dark place. He looked up at the sky and hoped that his friends and his family would forgive him for what he was doing.

Looking back at the base where Kysrel was, he headed in that driection. It was time to get some answers and find out what this was really all about.

**

* * *

Roxas has turned over to the dark side! Betcha didn't see that coming did ya! DID YA! One more chapter, then we'll be hitting a time skip in the story. After I finish the next chapter though, I'll be taking about a week break from the story to finished Guardian Angel and get that out of the way, then put a little more work into Fateful XIII: Rewind. Once I have that story caught up a bit, I'll come back here and pick it up after the time skip.**

**I won't be gone long, so don't start yelling at me. I'll see ya'll later.**

**Don't forget to review.  
**


	24. Chapter 22: Witness the Death of Reason

**The Fateful XIII**

Chapter 22

Witness to the Death of Reason

**Disclaimer: **I fart in your general direction!

Okay, I'm back again, I know you're glad to see me! I don't want to give away anything in this A/N because this chapter has probably the same amount of story development as chapter 15 when we found out all that stuff about Kysrel and such.

When I wrote this chapter and read it over again though, I scared the shit out of myself! It made me realize I might be a tiny bit mentally unstable. You'll know what I'm talking about soon enough.

If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go do some soul searching and examine my moral compass. Maybe check into a psycho ward.

* * *

Kysrel's base was actually quite similar to the Fateful's base, there was good carpeting and paintings on the walls, though it was definitely darker both in lighting and in coloring. Since the layout was similar as well, he was able to navigate accurately throughout most of the complex, and found a lounge that mirrored the one back at the Fateful base. Kysrel sat with his legs cross while sitting in a leather arm chair. His hood was down, revealing his short brown hair, pale green eyes, and long scar on the side of his face.

Namine was no where to be seen, he'd make a note to find her room right after he got what he wanted. He took a seat across from him, a low glass table between them.

"What are you doing?" he asked suddenly.

Kysrel raised an eyebrow. "If you could specify…"

"Why are you doing all of this!" he shouted, standing up again.

Kysrel just laughed his cocky laugh, the one that said he knew something that everyone else didn't and thought you were an ignorant fool for not figuring it out.

"I thought it would have been obvious by now," he chuckled.

He stood up and began pacing back and forth with his arms folded behind his back.

"What is the one thing people have been chasing after for decades. Maleficent, Xehanort, Xemnas, what do they all have in common?"

"They were all after Kingdom Hearts, is that your plan to?" he asked.

Kysrel smiled. "In a sense, yes."

"You see, Over the time where Xelskyr believed me to be dead, I was not only recovering my strength, I was researching as well. I found a very interesting fact about the keyblade that finally explains the legends," he explained.

"The legends, what legends?"

He looked at him with another raised eyebrow. "Your father never told you?"

"No matter, I shall explain. You see, keyblades come in pairs, for every one that is made to fight for light, there is a dark twin. One keyblade master is destined to cause destruction, while the other is meant to bring salvation. That is the legend," he continued.

"You and Hikari however, are of a different breed. Due to your parents complicated pasts and their encounters with the elements of Twilight and Dawn, your keyblades are mixed with the powers of both light and dark. Yours is of Twilight, while hers is of Dawn. Put together, both your keyblades make up light and are the twins of mine, which is obviously of darkness."

This was a lot to process for Roxas. His keyblade, Oathkeeper, was the partial twin of Kysrel's?

"Wait, what about Xelskyr, he's got a keyblade to, what does that make him?"

Kysrels expression turned to one of disgust. "Xelskyr is an unnatural imbalance in the scales, one that must be corrected. His keyblade is a keyblade of nothingness, one that doesn't truely exist. Not unlike himself."

"Back to my research however. I found that the keyblade, every keyblade, has a special ability. Many have opened Kingdom Hearts before, many long before our time, or your father's time, or even his father's time. It is a weapon of infinite power that could never be wielded correctly."

"You see, Kingdom Hearts hold so much darkness, so much raw, uncontrolled power, no _one_ person could ever hope to contain it. Xemnas, Xehanort, Maleficent, they were all fools to think they could control it for long. I however, have found a way."

"How?" asked Roxas, eager to hear where he was going with the whole thing.

"The keyblade Roxas, the keyblade is the only true way to wield Kingdom Hearts. This blade has an infinite capacity of power, and is the only container in the universe capable of taming the wild ferocity of Kingdom Hearts. My plan, Roxas, is to absorb Kingdom Hearts into my keyblade, and channel it into my body at a constant and steady rate. It will grant me all the power of eternal darkness, with no risk to myself. I will be a god, a being of endless power and life."

Then he sighed and threw his hands at his side, staring up at the ceiling.

"Unfortunately, I've hit quite a snag. Thanks to your parents past endeavors, the darkness of Kingdom Hearts is being suppressed by the Door of Light. There is a way to close it again and release the true power of the heart of all worlds, but for that, both keyblades of light and dark must be present to lock the door again. This snag Roxas, is only something you can correct."

This explanation was actually confusing him more than it was helping. "Why me, what can I do?"

"Don't you get it yet, you and Hikari are the missing pieces to this whole puzzle! Without the two of you, I can't get to Kingdom Hearts! You were the stronger of the two, and Hikari is close to you. I knew that if I was able to force you into my service, she would follow, if only to keep you and Namine safe."

Anger flared in Roxas' stomach and he shouted, "What makes you think she'd join you!?"

He laughed his arrogant laugh, and knew another obvious explanation was on its way.

"The same way I acquired you; leverage. She'll do anything to keep Namine safe, just as you will. Once I have you both, I'll unlock Kingdom Hearts once more and rain darkness across the universe, I'll destroy everything, it'll be such fun!"

He swung around with a joyous look on his face, Kysrel was showing more emotion now than any other time Roxas had ever seen him. To be honest, he was more scared now than when he actually had to fight him.

"You'll love it Roxas, the constant screaming, the fire, the stench of spilled blood on the ground, and the feeling of euphoria when your blade tears through soft flesh again and again! Just think, thousands of worlds to conquer and exterminate, there's ten lifetimes worth of fun to be had!"

Roxas was literally trying to sink into his chair and escape his psychotic rant. He was even more far gone than Roxas had first though!

"Then, when its finally over, I'll use my power to re-create everything and we'll do it all over again! I'm giddy just thinking of all the people I'll finally be able to kill! To watch as their blood flies out of their bodies and splashes onto the ground is the greatest pleasure any human can ever know! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! God I love this game we call life and death, and soon I'll have all the pieces, hold all the cards, it'll be checkmate! DAMNATION FOR ALL!" he shouted, completely lost in his mad fantasies.

He screamed straight at the ceiling. "YOU HEAR THAT YOU FUCKERS, I'M COMING FOR YOU! FIRE, DEATH, BRIMSTONE, BLOOD, IT'LL COME FROM ALL DIRECTIONS FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!'"

After some maniacal laughing, he calmed himself and panted as he straightened out his trench-coat. He slowly stepped over to his seat and sat down, his legs crossed like before. Roxas stared at him wide eyed, he was acting like none of that just happened!

He cleared his throat. "First though Roxas, we need to bide our time for the moment. There are preparations I must make and research yet to be done. You are also going to need to train to master your new powers. The darkness has already given you a significant power boost, but you need to master it or it will consume you as it did so many others."

Finally, he said something that actually seemed logical. However much he might not like it, he had to use these powers if he was going to beat Kysrel one day. Until that time came, he'd stick with darkness, it as his only hope. It would also give him time to think of ways to keep Hikari out of this mess. This was his fight now, his burden. He had to do it alone, to keep her safe...to keep them all safe.

He had to keep Hikari out of Kysrels grasps though. The longer he kept him away from her and vice-versa, the more time he'd have to get stronger and finally kill that psycho bastard. That also meant not letting her know he was working with him, for now it was better if she thought he was dead. If he ever met up with her, that would be what he'd tell her...he was dead. Of course, in his eyes, he really was. He wasn't the same person anymore, he was a new Roxas, a new Roxas he wasn't exactly a fan of but needed the help of none the less.

"Where's Namine?" he asked sullenly.

"She's on the lowest level underground, it won't be hard to find her, it's a small level. It's perfectly comfortable down there, don't worry," he said calmly, now standing.

"I have things to attend to in my study at the present, you can visit her if you wish," he stated, then disappeared as darkness engulfed him.

Roxas began to wonder if he could do that, but decided against trying now. He'd wait for instruction, that way he didn't end up killing himself because he screwed up. He rose from his seat and entered the nearest elevator. He hit the button labeled, 'B5', and felt the lift lurch as it sped downward toward the fifth level basement.

When it suddenly bumped and stopped, the doors opened slowly, revealing a long hallway leading to a door on the other end. He walked down its length and slowly grabbed the knob. As he pushed the door out of the way, he examined the room she was being kept in. It was dark like all the other rooms, but it looked comfortable enough. She sat upon a large bed, silently rocking herself to keep herself calm. Roxas came in and sat down next to her, she scooted over to him and held onto him tightly.

"What's going on Roxas?" she asked, her voice quivering.

"It's complicated Nami. I'm not going to pretend I understand it all completely either."

He picked her up and sat her down on his lap, stroking her hair and hugging her.

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you okay. It might take a long time, but I'll get us out of here, the we'll get to go back to the islands see mom and dad again. Hikari will be there to, we'll all be there and you won't have to worry anymore," he said, now rocking her lightly.

In a matter of minutes she was asleep in his arms, snoring softly. Another trait of their dads she'd picked up. he set her down on the bed again and covered her up with the blankets, tucking her in and making sure she was warm. He walked over to the foot of the bed and sat down, resting his head against the mattress.

He remembered Hikari's dad telling them about the time where he fell into the darkness and didn't escape it until he met back up with his mom and dad. He couldn't help but laugh at the irony. People had always said that he was like his father and Hikari like hers, and now here they were in their shoes...only the roles had been reversed. He couldn't help but hope that she'd magically come along and save him from this nightmare he'd been thrown into, but quickly disregarded it. This wasn't a video-game, this was reality.

* * *

Meanwhile, across the universe, Hikari was thinking the exact same thing. They were back at the Fateful base, Kairi had come along to be closer to the action, but Hikari could tell that she was completely falling apart at the loss of not one but both her children. The silver haired girl had no idea what to think, she just wished her dad would somehow show up and save her from all of this. He always knew what to do, always had some advice to give.

They were in the infirmary, preparing to give the news to Xelskyr, who was just about over his injuries already. As they entered the room, they saw him slipp on his new coat, as his old one had been lost in the fight against Kysrel. He eyed the group curiously, wondering what Kairi was doing here and where Roxas was.

"What's up guys, how'd everything go."

Everyone remained silent until Nevax spoke up. "We lost Roxas."

Those three words smacked him upside the head like a sack full of nails and quarters, and for a full ten seconds, he couldn't formulate his thoughts into words.

"Damn it," he muttered.

"DAMN IT!" he shouted this time, kicking over a cart of medical supplies.

"What happened!?" he demanded.

"Kysrel was trying to kidnap Namine, so he went after him. When he grabbed her and ran through the corridor, he jumped in after him. We don't know what happened to him after that," explained Hikari, tears threatening to break through her eyes.

Xelskyr covered his eyes with his palm and sighed, things were just going to the shit-pits around here all of a sudden. He turned and walked up to Kairi, stared at her for a second, then knelt down in front of her. Everyone was looking at him in confusion, especially Kairi.

"What are you..."

"Forgive me," he muttered.

"For what?" she asked.

"I ordered the operation that resulted in this situation. This is my fault. Please...forgive me," he explained.

"I know the request doesn't matter much coming from me, and you have no obligation to fulfill it. After all, I'm only a Nobody, I can't actually feel anything, so feel free to yell at me, tell me you hate me for doing this and taking your son away from you, but please, if you can...forgive me for what I've done. I promise to correct my mistake personally, regardless of your answer."

She stood there for a while, everyone waiting to see what her response would be. She suddenly knelt down to and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and met her face to face.

"There's nothing to forgive. None of us could have predicted what would happen, and I'm sure you would have stopped it all if you could have," she said sweetly.

"You know, he stopped by for a little while before all of this happened. He talked about you. He said you didn't get along very well, that you were a, 'sarcastic know it all who's ego is too big for his own base', but he also said that he admired you. That you always had things under control and went out of your way to help him, even when he didn't want it."

"Most of all though, he said that even though you're a Nobody, he still counts you among his best friends, and anyone he thinks that highly of, I could never hate."

As she rose again, Xelskyr stayed motionless in that spot, soaking in all that she had said. He suddenly started laughing, not a happy or sarcastic laugh like usual; this one, if Hikari didn't know any better, was one of pain.

"Ya know, if I could feel anything right now, I think Id be crying."

Only then did he rise, placing his hands on his hips and sighed. He turned to Hikari.

"Alright, with Roxas out of the picture temporarily, you'll need to pick up a lot of slack. Kairi, will you help me train her. She's gonna need to be able to right without Roxas covering her back."

She nodded. "Of course, the stronger she is, the better chance we have of getting Roxas back."

Hikari spoke up, voicing a thought that had been running through her head for quite a while. "How do we even know he's still alive? Kysrel is as psycho as they come, what makes you think he'd survive with that freak all by himself?"

"Easy," said Xelskyr, "he's Roxas."

**

* * *

What'd I tell ya eh? Psycho-fest huh. Now I'm gonna have to leave you all in suspense. As I said last chapter there will be a timeskip next time a put in a chapter for this story. Nothing major, only a few months or so. **

**Also, now that I've hit Fateful XIII's mid-point, I'll be leaving this story for about a week or so to finally finish Guardian Angel, then, instead of working on Fateful XIII: Rewind, I'm starting a new story along with continueing this one. **

**If you've been to my profile, you've seen the description of Caught in the Middle and other story idea's you'll be seeing from me in the future. If not, then go there and read up on it. **

**Basically though, it's a Modern AU Naruto/Fem-Kyuubi fic. So if you like Naruto in general, you'll most definitely like this story. The first chapter should be up by this time next week if not a little later.  
**

**Now I will also be putting up Fateful XIII: Rewind eventually, but I'm just gonna wait until this one is done first. I got a little ahead of myself there.**

**Now, go ahead and review, I'll be waiting.  
**


	25. Chapter 23: Lessons Over Tea

**The Fateful XIII**

Chapter 23

Lessons Over Tea

**Disclaimer: **DOOM! DOOM! DOOOOOM! D-DOOM! DOOMY! DOOM!

Okay, my break from this story is over and I'm back again. Remember, this is after the timeskip, so Roxas has been gone for quite some time and both he and Hikari have been doing some growing up. Just keep that in mind.

Let's not waste any time and jump right in!

* * *

Six months…six months Roxas had been serving Kysrel hand and foot just to keep his sister alive. He'd gone through rigorous training and brutal exercises, and he had the dozens of jagged scars to prove it. For six months he never left that dark, pale world that he'd been brought to all that time ago, and he'd spent all his time improving his skills. Skipping meals, losing sleep, refusing to treat his injuries, all so he could become strong enough to fight Kysrel one on one and win. He was close to his goal, he could feel it.

Today was different than the other days though, because today, Roxas was on his first mission; his first for Kysrel anyway.

He hadn't been told where he was going, nor was it all that important. All Kysrel wanted was for Roxas to find a place with large amounts of people, then cause as much havoc as possible. It was an opening shot, and Kysrel had ordered him to take out any members of the Fateful that may and probably would show up.

He wasn't proud of what he was about to do, nor did he want to do it, but if he didn't, then Namine was in danger. That was something he couldn't allow, so for the time being, he shut off his emotions, and just focused on doing what he had to do.

It was late in the evening and raining, not a heavy rain, just a drizzle at the moment. He was walking along a long road on a flat countryside, a gigantic stone wall behind him. The guards had let him pass without any trouble, and now he was on his way to a large city, one that he had heard was supposedly impenetrable. Apparently they never expected a teenage to show up with an army of being that could instantaneously transport anywhere in the universe at the snap of a finger. Then again, who would?

From what he'd seen, the people here were pretty primitive compared to the other worlds he'd been to. The guards wouldn't be much trouble if all they had were those green tunics, light armor, and crappy spears. He secretly hoped however, that there was someone strong enough to stop him, to give him an excuse to leave without causing too much damage.

Sure Hikari and some of the others might show up to stop him, but if that was going to happen, it'd still take time. Within that time, he'd be forced to most likely kill a few people, which was again, not something he was looking forward to.

He could have just used a dark corridor to get into the city, but he was trying not to rely on any of his powers pertaining to darkness unless it was absolutely necessary. Like making a quick escape or if he was in a situation where he couldn't use his keyblade. And so, he walked in the rain, the falling water lightly tapping his leathery coat, his hood up, obscuring his face in darkness, and his fingers twitching in anxiety.

He met a few people on the road who were going in either opposite or the same direction. He never conversed with them, but picked up a few interesting tid-bits of information about his immediate surroundings. Like, that this city he was about to attack was named Ba Sing Se. An odd name to him, but apparently it meant "Impenetrable City" in one of their more ancient languages. He had heard good things from the travelers. The city was divided into three areas; the lower, middle, and upper rings. Apparently the lower ring was poverty stricken for the most part and had the most people, and the upper ring was the richest but had the fewest people.

He decided that the upper ring would be his target. If there were fewer people, then he would have an excuse for Kysrel for the high collateral damage but lower amounts casualties. Besides, he wasn't going to make the poor peoples lives harder by attacking them with legions of heartless, they had it rough enough already.

He approached the gates to the lower ring, four guards standing watch over it; they all eyed him suspiciously. He stopped in front of them, waiting for them to complete all if any security protocols they had.

The guard closest to his right approached him.

"Where are you headed?" he asked gruffly.

"Just visiting," Roxas said, trying to keep his time in one spot short.

"We'll need you to remove your coat sir, we need to make sure you don't have any concealed weapons or the like," explained the one to the left.

"I have no _concealed_ weapons. Let me pass," he said in a low but demanding voice.

The guard to his right looked to the one on his left and he nodded, as did the other two on the the edge of the group.

"I'm sorry sir, but you'll have to turn back," said the guard.

"No."

"It wasn't a suggestion kid, get outta here!" said the one on the edge to his right, who made a grab for his shoulder.

Roxas' training from both his father and Kysrel kicked in, and he grabbed the mans arm with his right hand and twisted, popping it out of its socket. At the same time, he twisted to the side and kicked the guard in front of him in the stomach, knocking him back into the gate. He swung the guard who's arm he injured, and twirled him around once and tossed him at the next nearest guard, causing them both to hit the ground, then lastly shot the farthest guard with a small blast of dark energy. Not enough to kill him, but it knocked him on his butt.

"I'm sorry about all that," he said as he used a dark corridor to get into the city. He figured the damage was already done, and he might as well just skip ahead to the upper ring right away.

He popped back into the world in a small park. A small tree and a tiny lake with lily pads and weird duck turtle hybrids that utterly confused Roxas, but ignored them after a few seconds pondering. It was late so no one was around this area, which was lucky he guessed. He didn't want to do any more damage to the multi-verse balance than he was already going to do.

After leaping through some trees, he emerged out of the park and into a street made of stone that was white as stone and sturdy looking wooden buildings. He walked into a square that was deserted for the most part, save for what looked like a restaurant nearby that still had a few people lingering. He prepared to summon the heartless to do their thing when a voice rang out behind him.

"Well, I've been to many lands and seen strange things, but I don't think I've seen anyone dress quite like that before," said the voice.

Roxas turned around to see an old man, quite large, but didn't look the least bit unhealthy. He had gray hair and had balded a bit on the top, and a matching beard on his chin. He had a kind smile and an inviting expression.

"It's all a matter of perspective. I could say you looked strange, but that would only be my opinion based on my perspective," he said, realizing that Kysrel's penchant for clever comebacks had rubbed off on him. He prayed that was the _only_ thing.

The man only laughed and nodded. "That is quite true. Come, my tea shop is just up those steps, we can continue this discussion there if you like."

Roxas actually thought it over. He had plenty of time to complete what he came her to do, and this old man, whoever he was, seemed like an interesting man. Besides, he'd always liked tea ever since his mother introduced it to him when he was a kid.

He shrugged and nodded. "I have some time, why not."

His smile grew. "Splendid, I'll pour us each a cup of Jasmine. It's my favorite and I'm sure you'll love it as well."

He chuckled to himself, he liked this old man. "I'm sure I will."

* * *

Elsewhere in the upper ring, a certain airbending monk sat in the mansion the Earth King had granted him last time he'd been in Ba Sing Se, meditating in peace. It'd been a few months since the Fire Lord had finally fallen and things were almost completely settled down. Zuko had a stable enough seat on the throne, Sokka and Suki were spending some time with each other on Kyoshi Island, Katara was in her room as she'd been traveling with him on his visit here, and Toph had gone home and made peace with her parents...mostly.

All in all, everything had smoothed out. He was here just as a formality and planned on leaving tomorrow, heading back to the Southern Water Tribe for a while. He didn't have a care in the world at the moment, which was just how Aang liked it.

His peace was broken though, when in his meditation, he sensed something. He wasn't sure what, but something unknown and foreign was definetly in Ba Sing Se. His connections with the spirit world were still pretty fuzzy, so his spiritual senses weren't as sharp as he would have liked, but he didn't need any help in telling that something was here that wasn't supposed to be.

Whatever it was, it had dark intentions, but it didn't feel evil. In fact, quite the opposite, could sense good in it, lots of it. Whatever was happening, he had to find whatever or whoever was causing all this.

He sat up and knocked on Katara's door. She answered a few seconds later.

"Katara, I think we've got some trouble somewhere in Ba Sing Se," he said seriously.

"What is it?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure exactly, but I know something is here that shouldn't be. I'd have to guess it's nearby, so it's in the upper ring somewhere."

"Alright, let's check with Iroh. I'm sure if something fishy is going on, he'll know about it. He always seems to know about everything that goes on in this city."

"Right, let's get going."

Katara grabbed her water-skin and Aang took hold of his staff. The two rushed out of the house and into the streets, heading for Iroh's tea shop.

* * *

"So my friend, what brings you to Ba Sing Se?" asked the old man who Roxas had learned was Iroh.

They sat at a table against the wall, Iroh carrying a small white teapot and set it between them where two cups sat in front of them. His place was nice; sturdy wooden tables, a few pieces of artwork on the walls and a high quality rug on the floor in the center of the shop. He'd done pretty well for himself.

"Business. I'm not looking forward to it, bit I don't have much of a choice," he said, trying to hide his sadness about the subject.

"Well in that case, maybe this will help you relax," he said, pouring the tea into his cup.

"You know, it's not polite to keep your hood up indoors," he said pleasantly.

Roxas laughed a little and pulled down his hood revealing his slightly more mature face. His hair had grown a little longer, and now fell into his face a bit, but not enough to impair his vision. His chin was a little more defined, but his eyes remained the same deep pools of blue they'd always been. For that he was thankful, it was his last connection, he felt, to who he used to be. The Roxas he was proud to have been, and wished to be again someday.

Iroh chuckled. "With a face like that, I bet you have girls swooning over you eh?"

"There aren't many girls where I've been for the last few months, and I didn't get out much anyway."

"Hm. A pity, I can think of a quite a few young ladies I know who would jump right at you," he laughed.

Roxas laughed a little to as he lifted the liquid up and swallowed a swig, relishing the warm drink. It'd been a while since he'd had anything with much flavor to it. Kysrel, he'd learned, was a horrible cook. Either that, or he just didn't have any taste-buds and didn't care what he ate.

"This is really good. You run this place all by yourself?"

He nodded after taking a drink himself. "I started this tea shop a few months ago with my nephew. He's off doing a bit more important work right now, but I don't mind. I'm happy for his success; he deserves it after all he's been through."

"What about you, what do you do?" he asked.

"Some time ago I guess you could've called it an odd jobs service. I just went where things needed fixing and fixed them. I'm not so proud of my change in career though."

"What is it that you do now?"

Roxas put down his cup and sighed. "I'd rather not say. Like I said, I'm not proud of it."

"I'm doing it for the right reasons, that I'm sure. It's just...I hate the things I have to do to achieve that reason. I don't know if my family could ever forgive me for what I'm doing; that is if they knew I was alive."

Iroh nodded. "I see."

"I've been many places, and I've met many people in my lifetime. If there is one thing that I've learned from recent events however, it is that no matter what you may have done in the past, if you apply yourself and your intentions are honest, you can always achieve redemption. "

"I don't know," he groaned.

"Well, if you don't mind me asking. Why are you doing whatever it is you're doing?"

"...it's to keep my little sister safe."

He nodded again. "A noble purpose. Defending ones sibling, younger or older, is always a cause worth the sacrifice. The only advice I have to give you is this; you may only see one road in front of you for now Roxas, but that does not mean there are not other paths simply hidden from your view."

"So you're saying that there might be more than one way of keeping my sister safe?"

"Exactly."

"So you think my family will ever forgive me?" Roxas asked.

"I have no reason to think otherwise. The only real question is, can _you_ forgive _yourself_?"

Roxas lowered his head. "I...I'm not sure."

"Guilt is a constant companion in our lives Roxas. You simply need to find the difference between the guilt that is rightly placed on your shoulders, and the guilt you unjustly place there yourself."

Roxas laughed after finishing his tea, causing Iroh to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Has anyone told you you're one smart old man Iroh?"

At this he laughed as well. "On occasion, yes."

Their laughter was interrupted though, when a pair of footsteps were heard running up the stairs. Roxas and Iroh looked over at the entrance to the shop, seeing two people rush in.

The first was a girl who seemed only slightly younger than him with extremely tan skin and a blue dress. She wore a belt with what looked to be a water-skin strapped to it. Her hair fell down her back except for two looped braids hanging near her face.

The second person however, was who really caught his attention. He was younger than him maybe by a year or so, but his face was familiar. He wore orange and yellow robes and carried a staff at his side. He had a blue arrow on his head, which as what Roxas recognized the most, but couldn't quite remember where he'd seen him before. He'd never been to this world before, of that he was sure, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen him before.

"Aang, Katara, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" asked Iroh happily.

"Aang felt something funny was in Ba Sing Se and we came to see if you saw anything unusual around," explained Katara.

"No need Katara, we've already found him," said Aang.

She looked over at him with a confused look. "What do you mean?"

He raised his hand and pointed at Roxas. "Whatever I was feeling, he's where its coming from, I can just tell."

"He seems fine to me. He's done nothing but sit here and talk," said Iroh.

Roxas scooted out of the seat and rose, straightening out his coat. "They're right Iroh, he can sense me because I stink with the power of darkness. That business I told you about was to cause as much havoc as possible here in Ba Sing Se, and as much as I hate to say it, I still have to go through with it."

At this, Aang got his staff ready, and Katara fingered her water-skins. Iroh stood as well and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Must you really do this?"

He nodded. "Unfortunately. If I don't, my little sisters life is forfeit, and I won't let that happen."

Roxas stepped forward and raised his right hand, preparing to summon the heartless. "I'll try not to harm anyone if possible, but I can't make any promises."

"You won't hurt anyone because we won't let you!" protested Aang.

Roxas looked straight at Aang. "Are you absolutely sure you'll be able to stop me?"

"You bet!"

He nodded. "Good, I was hoping I would meet people here capable of fending me off. I'll hold back as much as possible, but I have to make this seem convincing. I never know when he's watching."

They all gave him a curious look.

"Who?" asked Katara.

Roxas merely shook his head. "It's nothing you'd find important. I suggest we move to the square outside; I don't want to destroy Iroh's shop."

They both nodded in agreement. Roxas calmly walked back down the steps, Katara behind him, while Aang eagerly leaped down and waited for the two of them. One they both reached level ground again, Roxas and the pair stood on opposite sides. Roxas snapped his fingers, and out of no where twenty Neo-shadows warped in front of him.

"Go, cause damage, but avoid harming anyone of you can resist the urge," he ordered them, that snapped his fingers again, and they leaped off in different directions in groups of two's and three's.

"What were those things?" asked Aang.

"Heartless; creatures you'll hopefully never see again. Now, let's begin," he said, his hands beginning to glow black and dark purple with the power of darkness. He didn't want to use his keyblade, that would be too suspicious of one of the Fateful, or worse, Hikari were to show up out of no where.

Instead he would stick with his dark powers and hand-to-hand; he hated using them, but better safe than sorry at the moment.

Iroh stood on the stairs leading to his shop and sighed as the three prepared to battle. He just knew from talking with him that Roxas had no intention of killing or even severely injuring either of them, and got the feeling that he was no stranger to defending himself. He felt pity only for those unfortunate souls who ran into those black creatures, and the young boy himself.

"I just can't seem to have conversations with anyone normal," he mused to himself.

* * *

**Yes, we've finally hit the Avatar world. This was another thing I was doing over the few days I'd been gone; research. I don't really watch this show at all, but I have friends who do, so I borrowed the DVD's and watched pretty much every episode in preparation for this arc. While I feel the show is a bit too kid oriented for my tastes, I can appreciate it's original story, rich cultural background, and frankly, memorable characters. Plus, even I have to admit that the battle in the last episode was kickass.  
**

**I find that my favorite character would have to be Sokka, for the same reason I like Axel; he's sarcastic, and I can appreciate sarcasm. I may go see the movie adaptation that** **M. Night Shyamalan is doing; he said in an interview that it would easily be PG-13 so who knows, maybe he'll be bringing that more mature tone that I crave. **

**Only time will tell, see ya'll later.**

**Review and such.  
**


	26. Chapter 24: Make a Promise

**The Fateful XIII**

Chapter 24

Make a Promise

**Disclaimer: **MAAAAAAAHAAAAAAA!

Okay, here we are again my friends. Some more twists and turns here and there, it'll be an all around eventful chapter. I don't wanna waste any time yammering my mouth off, so we'll just get on with this already.

READY, SET, ONWARD HOOOOOOO!

* * *

Roxas had to admit, these two weren't too shabby. Both their forms were extremely fluid and masterful, and their movements precise. Whoever they were, they were masters of their respective fighting styles. He was sure he would be able to handle them more easily if he could use his keyblade, but as it was, he was sticking with his dark powers, which meant that he was fighting a primarily ranged battle as were they.

The girl, Katara if he remembered correctly, reminded him of Nevax and his ice and water spells. Aang on the other hand, reminded him more of Rhcxis and Xealx. Katara seemed to be able to control water wither her mind and hand movements alone, while Aang favored to use his staff as a medium between his mental abilities. He was a bit peculiar though, because unlike Katara, he seemed to be able to use more than just one type of attack. He could manipulate air, water, fire, and earth, which made him a larger threat.

He did a series of back-flips as he dodged another one of Katara's attacks, which seemed to come in the form of her using the water as a whip. He thrust his fists forward, retaliating with a string of dark blasts that would have hit their mark if not for the fact that at the last minute she created a shield out of ice. As his attacks ceased, Aang came at him with his staff, sending gusts of wind at him that knocked him back even as he dug his feet into the ground.

He dashed forward again, heading straight for his bald opponent. He leaped into the air and clasped his hand together, smashing the ground a few meters in front of him and sending forth a dark wave of energy that sliced through the ground like a hot knife through butter. The monk quickly used earthbending and created a thick wall of stone to protect himself and block the attack.

The explosion from the wave impacting the stone kicked up a lot of smoke, but Aang remained unharmed. That is until Roxas came rocketing out of said smoke and gasped the younger boys face in his right hand. In a flash of adrenaline and surprise, Roxas fired a blast point blank into his face. He was sent hurtling through the square and into some unfortunate shop owner's wall.

Just as he landed from the attack, Roxas heard a whistle ring through the air and twisted to the side. His maneuver was just in time to avoid a spike of ice that was hurtled by Katara.

She fired several more, the first of which Roxas caught and began beating the others way with as he advanced on her position. When she finally ran out of water, Roxas thrust the ice spike forward and pinned her to a nearby wall by piercing the shoulder of her dress. With a twitch of her hand however, the spike suddenly revered back into water and slid down to his right foot. In an instant it was frozen to the ground and he was unable to move it.

The next thing he knew, Katara hand rolled away and he heard the rest of her water rushing toward him, as she must have melted them down as well, from behind. He bent backwards and looked behind him to see the water come over him and begin to envelop him. It smothered over him body, his face, his arms and legs, it seemed to cover him everywhere, and then it began to grow cold.

In an instant, Roxas was trapped in a frozen prison of ice. He couldn't move an inch of his body; whatever this was, it wasn't normal ice, but it wasn't magically synthesized either. What could it be made of to make it so strong?

He decided that now wasn't exactly the best time to be thinking it over, and instead tried to find a way to free himself. He already had a strategy in mind, and was confident that it would work; he just had to implement it. He filled the thin gap between his skin and the ice with dark energy and continued to build up the pressure and it pressed upward against the ice. After a few seconds of encasing himself in his own energy, the ice shattered and he was free again.

He shook his head and breathed on his hands to warm them. His recovery was interrupted though, when he sensed a raging storm of fire coming at him. He turned to face it and put his right hand forward.

"Reflega!" he shouted.

The magical shield surrounded him as the fire overwhelmed his position and scorched everything it touched. The inferno only last a few seconds, but it put a fair amount of strain on his spell and left him panting a little after he released it. He looked up to see Katara standing by Aang who was back up, his left fist was releasing small amounts of smoke.

Roxas wasted no time and charged forward, his hands began to glow their dark colors again. Aang did the same, and the two converged on each other. Just as they were about to collide, another whistle rang through the air, and something lodged itself in the ground in between the two of them. The object that had impeded their battle was something that filled Roxas with utter dread...it was Hikari's keyblade.

"Oh shit," hissed Roxas.

He quickly threw his hood over his head and frantically scanned the area for his friend. If her keyblade was here, then she wasn't too far away. He was quickly presented with his answer as out of no where, his best friend landed to the left of both he and Aang. To his surprise, his mother wasn't too far behind and landed next to her.

He was shocked at how much Hikari had changed. Her hair was now longer than it was before, a lot longer. It used to only be shoulder length, but now it was easily halfway down her back. She'd grown taller to, two inches at least; impressive for only half a year. She looked like she'd physically matured even more than he had, she even seemed like a different person.

Both their gazes fell immediately on Roxas, which didn't surprise him considering he was wearing an Organization coat. He began backing away slowly, praying to God he didn't have to fight them, especially not at the same time.

Hikari regained her keyblade and pointed it at Roxas.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

At that, Roxas turned tail and ran for it. He did this for two reasons; one, he really didn't want to fight them, and two, there was the risk that they might find out who he was, and he didn't want to deal with that, at least not yet.

He jumped to the rooftops and tried his best to lose them. He heard them giving chase behind him, and pushed his legs harder to get away. He jumped off the roof he was on and landed in the streets below, turned a corner and continued running. As he reached the halfway point down the street, the stone tiles of the road shot upward, cutting off his progress with a huge wall.

He looked up at the roofs and there stood Aang with his hands raised. Roxas scowled under his hood and charged his fist with energy. He turned and punched the wall, blowing through it and opening his way. As he leaped over the stone however, he didn't see his mother and Hikari on the other side, and when he did, it was too late.

In an instant, both the keyblade wielders slammed their weapons into his face, sending him rocketing back down the street and crashing through a wall into a closed shop. He staggered up from the blow, his forehead bleeding, and still attempted to escape. He didn't want to use a corridor, but that was coming down to his only option.

There was no possible way to beat both his mother and Hikari, especially with Aang interfering as well. He continued to run down another street, and when he was confident that he'd temporarily lost them, he leaned against the wall of the of the buildings to regains his breath. His head was pounding from the injury and throbbing from the blood loss, they really nailed him good.

He heard their footsteps from around the corner and began running for it again, but the street shot up into a wall again. He looked up at the roof of one of the nearby buildings and saw Aang again, those mental powers were getting annoying. He looked back, and the two women had him cornered. He cursed under his breath and opened a corridor to escape. Or at least, he tried to.

He tried making a connection several times, but he couldn't get it to remain stable. He knew why to.

'_That bastard planned this, he wanted me to fight them!_' he shouted in his mind.

He turned to face them fully, they were both closing in, so he did the only thing he could do; he summon his keyblade. The black keyblade that was Oathbreaker ever since he was forced into Kysrel's service stopped them both dead in their tracks.

Hikari was the first to speak. "That...that looks like Roxas' keyblade. What did you do to Roxas!?"

He looked at her from under his hood. "I killed him."

At his statement, Hikari's eyes grew wide and Kairi's filled with tears. That was to be expected, and this whole experience was just getting more an more disgusting for him. Then something happened that he didn't expect; Hikari began charging him. She had her keyblade ready to slash him in half, and tears fell from her eyes as well.

He quickly brought his blade to his side and blocked the strike. He jumped up and over the stone wall and ran down the street again, but Hikari was suddenly much faster than she had been, and caught up with him in an instant. They ran side by side and she attacked him relentlessly as he continued to fight on the defensive. This continued down many streets; they turned corners, dodged the rare pedestrian, even jumped over a few planted shrubs and other plants.

He took note that she was much faster in her attacks than she used to be, Xelskyr and his mother must have been training her hard. He was a little eager to right her now, he wanted to see what else she might have improved on. Maybe she'd even mastered a few techniques.

They finally broke their run after they reached the outer walls of what seemed to be a palace. It was large and had a hug set of stairs leading to a building with a huge golden seal of what he could only assume was their national symbol. It was guarded by high walls, and they stopped right outside the gates.

Roxas hated how she looked at him. It was with a burning hatred, a look he didn't even know she possessed until he told her that he was dead and his present persona had killed him. He didn't really have much time to think about it though, because she came at him again with a fast vertical slash.

He attacked back and their blades _clanked_ as they collided and the two keybladers jumped back from each other. It became a wild flail after that, she'd charge him, he'd charge her, neither of them gaining any sort of advantage over the other.

He was still trying to lose her and avoid further fighting if possible. He ran up the length of the wall guarding the palace in an attempt to outrun her, but she kept on him, running upward as well. As he reached the top and pushed off with his foot, he did a front-flip and threw Oathbreaker at her to slow her progress.

She swung Threshold of Light with all her might and knocked Oathbreaker off course, sending it harmlessly clattering to the ground; her chase after him hadn't been deterred in the slightest. He re-summoned his blade just in time; as they landed in the courtyard leading to the palace, he slashed down on him and probably would have easily sliced him open if he hadn't regained his keyblade when he did.

He jumped back again and kept running, only turning around to block Hikari's attacks when she came close enough to do so. The guards on duty around the palace looked on at the two battling teenagers, not really sure what to make of it. They eventually came to their sense though, and used their earthbending to fire boulders at the two possible attackers. Dozens upon dozens of the rocks flew at them, but it only made the battle more interesting for the both of them.

They both jumped into the air and used the boulders as aerial stepping stones, bouncing from one to another attacking each other. As Roxas reached the highest one, he put all his strength into his legs and jumped straight up, high enough to reach the roof of the palace. Just when he was sure that he had finally given her the slip, Hikari jumped after him, even higher than he was.

They both landed on their feet, and Hikari re-ignited the battle atop the palace's roof. She sliced at him relentlessly, but he was able to block every strike. The training sessions against Kysrel had done wonders for his reflexes, seeing as he was so damn fast it was like you were fighting surrounded. He had to hand it to Hikari though, she had come light-years forward in her abilities.

After a strong counter attack on Roxas' part, Hikari jumped back and held her blade down at her waist and spread her legs. Roxas was uncertain as to what she was planning on doing, mostly because he had no idea how her fighting style may have changed over the months.

"I hope you enjoy this one, it's called the Dawns Fury," she growled.

His eyes widened as he watched her begin to glow in an aura of gold-ish energy; but her keyblade was where it was strongest. He got a feel for what she was going to do and gathered his own darker energy and mirrored what she was doing. Almost right after he'd gathered up his strength, Hikari swung her keyblade forward and sliced vertically at the ground, firing a wave of bright golden light at him. He mirrored her actions yet again and fired off an attack of the same variety, save for its color which was blackish purple.

The two attacks met in the center between them and resulted in an explosion that kicked up so much dust and debris that neither could see much past their own face. As it settled though, the most prominent sight was the huge gaping hole in the roof of the palace; Roxas hoped he wasn't expected to pay for that.

Hikari though, was still staring at him with that ice-cold hatred. That expression that said that she was sickened just by looking at him. It hurt him, but at the same time, it made him feel good. It was heartwarming how much she cared, of course, he'd probably have the same reaction if someone came along as said they'd killed her. He didn't blame her for anything.

He reacted out of instinct when she moved to the right and charged him again, and began running towards her again. He practically counted the steps they took until they their blades collided with each other. At least, when they would have collided.

Just as they were about to impact each other, a bolt of lightning shot between them and hit both their keyblades, knocking them from their hands. They both watched as their weapons clattered to the edge of the palace and rested next to each other.

"I think that's enough for one night," said a voice that was familiar to Roxas.

They both looked over at the source of the lightning, and saw the hearty old man that was Iroh. Roxas look at him with an incredulous look, wondering, one, how the old man even got here, and two, how he shot lighting out of his hand.

"Who are you!?" demanded Hikari.

"Me; I'm just an old man who has seen enough violence between the youths of the world and doesn't wish to see anymore. Especially when it is completely unnecessary," he replied calmly as he approached the pair.

She scowled angrily. "This...this monster killed my best friend! He's going to pay!"

At this Iroh chuckled.

"You think this is funny you old bastard!?" she shrieked.

He shook his head. "No, no. It's just that, he did not kill your best friend," he said, then looked at Roxas, "isn't that right Roxas?"

Hikari stood their in shock and confusion, not sure if she could believe what the old man had just said. She ran it through her head; this guy did have a keyblade that looked a lot like Roxas' Oathkeeper, he fought similar to him, albeit a little less aggressively that she remembered, and based on how long she hadn't seen him, he was around the right height.

She walked towards him, determined to get an answer. She stood in front of him, both of them the same height, and stared at him face to face. She grabbed his hood and pulled it down, revealing the face of her best friend. He looked a bit different, like the fact that his hair was longer and slightly flatter now, and fell into his face a little. His eyes were what gave it away though, they were the same pools of blue as she remembered they were.

Before she knew it, she fell to her knees and began to cry. Roxas knelt down with her and held her as she cried.

"Roxas...w-what's happened t-to you," she stuttered through her tears.

"It's a long story. I'm sorry about all this, I was hoping you wouldn't have to find out at all."

She pulled back and sniffed. "Where have you been, we've been worried sick!?"

He lowered his head. "I'm with Kysrel now. Not by choice obviously, he's _making_ me work for him. He's using Namine as leverage."

"That bastard! Why is he doing this to you?"

He shook his head. "It would take too long to explain, but you're in more danger than you know. I need you to stay safe; promise me you won't try to save me."

"But Roxas what about yo..."

"HIKARI!" he shouted, tears threatening to hit his eyes as well.

"Promise me you won't try to save me. If he doesn't have you, then he can't finish his plan. Just promise me, no matter what he threatens to do to me or Namine, don't do it. I'll protect Namine and I can take care of myself."

Her eyes pleaded him to just come back with her and his mother, but they both knew that wasn't happening. In the end she agreed and nodded.

"I promise," she murmured.

"Good," he said, pulling her into another hug.

"Remember Hikari, I care about you...more than you'll ever know."

He suddenly got brave and kissed her cheek before standing and throwing his hood over his head once more. He walked up to Iroh and extended his hand, which the old man took.

"Thank you Iroh, you helped me a lot."

Iroh nodded. "Always a pleasure. I would love it if you would stop by for tea again sometime."

Roxas laughed a little. "If I can. I do have a favor to ask though. Could you not tell anyone who asks about me that you saw me, the fewer people who know what went down here the better. Pass it on to Hikari to."

"Of course."

"Thank you," he said gratefully as he let go of his hand and opened a corridor.

'_Oh sure, _now_ it works!'_ he growled mentally.

The dark portal swirled and Roxas waved the old man goodbye as he stepped through and disappeared from the world. Just as the portal closed, Aang and Katara arrived, both of them aboard the glider in his staff. They landed gracefully and approached Iroh.

"Iroh, what happened, where did that guy go?" asked Aang.

"Of that I'm not entirely certain, but he certainly was an interesting person."

"Who was he?" asked Katara.

"Just a lost soul who needed a little guidance."

As Iroh conversed with Aang and Katara, Kairi knelt down next to Hikari who was still crying, but had a smile on her face.

"Hikari, what happened?"

She looked over at Iroh who put his finger to his lips, and took it was a signal along the lines of, '_keep quiet about it for now'_ and she nodded.

"That guy...he told me the truth during our fight. Roxas and Namine are alive and well, they're just prisoners."

"Are you sure!?" asked Kairi frantically.

Hikari nodded. "Yes...I am."

She sighed a sigh of relief and almost cried again as well. Hikari though, only had one thing on her mind at that moment in time, and that was Roxas' parting words to her.

_"Remember Hikari, I care about you...more than you'll ever know." _

The words gave her butterflies in her stomach and the thought of the kiss he gave her afterward made her blush. She had no idea he felt...that way about her. How long had he had feelings like that towards her? For that matter, how could she have not noticed? She felt like a fool for not realizing sooner, but felt happy at the same time.

It took her a while to figure it out, but she realized...she felt the same way about him.

**

* * *

Alright then, hows about that huh? Good? bad? in-between?**

**I know the ending might have been a lot to swallow all in one sitting, but maybe that's just my perspective. There's still a good amount of chapters left, so more developments on all this later. **

**Please review.  
**


	27. Chapter 25: Two Fields of View

**The Fateful XIII**

Chapter 25

Two Fields of View

**Disclaimer: **I don't own shit! (but then again, who'd want to? It smells horrible!)

Alrighty right! Twenty-five chapters down, can you believe it? What a milestone, eh?

Anywho, I've got something for all you munchkins out there that I'd like you to try out. See, I'm a big fan of the band Rise Against. Now as some of you may or may not know, they released a new album last month and no one sent me the memo, so I'm sort of behind in that aspect. Anyway, I found that one of their songs goes eerily well with what is currently happening in the story between Roxas and Hikari.

What I want you guys to do is go to Youtube or whatever and listen to the song **Savior** by **Rise Against**. Maybe it's just me and I'm crazy...okay I am crazy but please listen to it anyway. Even if you don't agree with me it's a great song!

Okay, that was long. ONWARD!

* * *

It was the day after their encounter with Roxas, and Hikari was sitting in Iroh's shop drinking some of his famous tea and eating a small breakfast of bread with honey. It wasn't luxurious, but still tasted good and it was filling. He'd offered to put both her and Kairi up for the night, seeing as how they weren't going to be picked up until noon today.

She was finishing up her breakfast when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs leading to the shops entrance. She looked over her shoulder and saw the tanned girl that they'd seen last night when they first found Roxas. Her name was Katara if her memory served correctly.

"Oh, hi…uh, Hikari right?"

She nodded. "That's right, your name's Katara, am I right?"

"That right. So you're leaving today?"

"Yeah, now that we've driven off the heartless for now, we need to move on and track my friend."

She walked over and took a seat across from the silver haired girl.

"You haven't told his mother that he's the one you fought yet have you."

She shook her head. "No, not yet; I don't want her to worry more than she has to. If she knew he was working for the bad guy, she'd fly off the handle and try something, I know it."

She nodded in agreement. "It's what mothers do."

"If he's your friend, why is he fighting against you?" Katara asked next.

Hikari sighed. "It's his sister. The man we're fighting took her captive a few months ago and is using her as leverage to control him. We're not sure why, but I intend to find out."

Katara scowled. "That's low, and I've seen some pretty despicable people."

She nodded sullenly, but stared off into space, not completely there. She couldn't get the previous night out of her head. She had a good feeling about this world, but she didn't think she'd actually meet up with Roxas. They'd been searching for him since the day he went missing, and now she finally had solid proof that he was alive and well.

Not only that, but he seemed to have matured a lot since they were separated, not just physically either. She could tell from the expressions he made and the tone of his voice when they were talking that he'd abandon a lot of that childishness that he had when all this began. Not all of it was gone, but that time with Kysrel would take away from anyone's spark for life.

She knew she promised not to try anything to save him, but come on, did he actually think that was a promise she'd be able to keep? He was her best friend, she be damned if to psycho bastard was going to keep him on a leash for the rest of his life. She'd find out where that chicken-fucker was hiding and kick his ass, then once that was done, she'd get Roxas and Namine both and get out of there. If he spent too much more time with Kysrel, she might completely lose him; she had to get to him while there was still some of him left to save.

There were still questions that needed answering though. Like why Roxas was so important to Kysrel, or her for that matter. Plus, just what was his goal anyway? There were still a lot of unanswered variables in the air, things she needed to know.

She wondered what Roxas was doing right now.

* * *

Roxas was lying on his bed in his room. It was pretty basic; bed, dresser, chair, and that was about it. Anyway, last night had been a highpoint in recent events for him. He got to see his mom; he met up with Hikari and even got to talk to her. On top of that, he felt proud of himself for finally admitting his feelings for Hikari...sort of. He was still confident he got the message across. Honestly, what else would he be trying to get across by telling her "I care about you more that you'll ever know" then kissing her on the cheek? It seemed kind of obvious to him.

Anyway, in short, last night was probably the best on record, and would have been damn near perfect if not for the parting statement of one loathsome brunette psycho.

Let's roll the tape shall we?

_Flashback_

_Roxas was just returning from his "mission" and was in a pretty good mood all things considered. He exited the corridor in the lounge and was about to head off and visit Namine and tell her all about it when he heard a distinct applause from one of the chairs. It was a slow, sarcastic sort of clap that just came out and said that the person was mocking you._

"_What do you want Kysrel?" he growled as he walked into the room._

"_Tch, tch, touchy tonight are we? After such an entertaining performance I thought you would be a bit more enthusiastic," he said with fake surprise._

_Roxas scowled at him as he continued to speak._

"_After all, it had everything; violence, romance, drama, suspense, even a joke or two. I especially loved the heartfelt parting words, honestly I'm glad I had tissues on hand."_

_"Why did you prevent me from using corridors back there, why force me to fight them?" Roxas demanded._

_Kysrel folded his legs. "Well partially just for fun, but mostly it was because I need Hikari to know you are alive. Now that she does, it's only a matter of time before she tries to rescue you."_

_"She promised she wouldn't, and she doesn't break promises."_

_"Like I said, _only a matter of time_. I have all the time in the world Roxas, and if she takes too long, I can always bring her here by force. I'd prefer not to resort to that, having another keybearer under my control would be quite a prize, but if I must, I must."  
_

_Roxas sighed angrily and began fast-walking out of the room._

"_Roxas!" Kysrel called out._

_He stopped and turned about._

"_You _do_ know that your efforts to keep Hikari away from me are meaningless don't you? Eventually, regardless if it is by force or by choice, she will serve me as you do."_

"_We'll see," he growled back as he turned away again._

_He heard a cocky chuckled followed by, "Yes, I suppose we will."_

_End of Flashback_

He hated him, hated him more than he did anyone before. That bastard had taken everything from him; his home, his friends and family, even his freedom. As selfish as it seemed, he wished –no prayed- that Hikari would break the promise he made her make and just come to save him and Namine. It was taking too long from his end; the darkness was really getting to him.

He was becoming increasingly short tempered and he was forgetting things, things he should have remembered easily. Like what color Hikari's eyes were even though he'd just seen her, what his house looked like, what Namine's favorite game was, what his locker combination was at school. Things were slowly slipping away, and they kept getting bigger each time. It was only a matter of time before he forgot everything.

He sat up on his bed and put his face in his palms. Why was this happening to him, what did he ever do? His mother had always said that he had the gift to always want to protect everyone, but now it seemed like he was being punished for having that very same gift. It was being used to make him into a puppet for someone whose goal was to rip apart everything he stood for. There was so much irony in it that he was nauseous.

He could then feel the influence of the darkness; it was screaming for him to just go out and destroy everything he could get his hands on, kill anything that happened to come by him. It was like having another person in his head, and that person was the same raving bloodthirsty lunatic probably still sitting in the lounge screaming at the ceiling about how much he'll enjoy killing everyone. For months now he'd heard Kysrel's voice in his mind; he wasn't sure if he actually had that ability, or if his resistance to the darkness was just driving him mad. Neither one sounded pleasant.

He lay back down on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

* * *

Back with Hikari, she was still sitting in the same seat she'd been in at breakfast. It was now almost eleven o'clock by her estimation and she was alone. Katara had gone back to the house she was staying at, and she wasn't quite sure where Kairi was, she'd been more secluded since Roxas' disappearance.

Her thoughts then turned to their fathers. Where were they? Did they even know what was happening? If they did, were they coming up with a plan? Things hardly made sense anymore.

She looked up when she heard more footsteps coming towards her table from the counter. She saw it was Iroh this time, the old man that had stopped her and Roxas from tearing each other limb from limb. He took a seat across from her at her table with a cup of tea in hand.

"Uh…can I help you?" she asked.

"Actually, it's my shop, so I believe I should be the one to ask you that," he chuckled.

She smiled and even laughed a bit herself.

"So, what is on your mind young lady?" he asked while calmly sipping his tea.

She sighed. "Too many things."

He stroked his beard as he thought. "Hm, I'm guessing most of them dwell on Roxas. From that little display last night I can surmise that you two are close."

"We're best friends, always have been."

"Maybe it is because I'm getting old, but I could have sworn there was more than that," he said in an almost teasing voice.

She looked away trying to remain calm, but felt a little heat creep onto her face. "Right…that. Believe me; it caught me by surprise to. I wasn't even expecting that."

He laughed again. "Yes, that sort of thing usually does. You never know when it will reveal itself to you, and who it will come from."

"It's just that…I didn't think there was anything like that between us, and now all of a sudden there is. I know I feel something for him now, I'm just not sure where to go from here," she said, not looking down at the table.

"I believe he has made his position on the matter quite clear, it is now your move," he stated, taking a sip of his tea.

"I don't know what to do though! Roxas has always been my best friend ever since we were little! You'd think if that sort of thing was going to happen, it would have happened a while ago. I don't get it."

"You would be surprised. I've seen many couples who had been unaware of their feelings for each other for quite some time until one of them finally took the first step. Love is not always instantaneous, it may take many years of nurturing before it finally blooms."

She put her hands defensively. "Whoa, whoa, what's all this about love!? I'm just now figuring out I _like_ him, love is a big step!"

"Calm yourself, all I am saying is that it is not an impossibility that you could in the future. The heart is a mysterious thing, we never know what it will do or feel next, and there are times when it will surprise us with the most unexpected responses. No matter what, you must trust that it will safely guide you to what is best. Roxas may in fact be the endpoint your heart is pulling you to, or he may not, but you will never know unless you at least try."

She had to admit, that made a lot of sense. He father was always saying that if he'd followed his heart instead of his head twenty years ago when he was on his own quest, then he could've avoided a lot of unneeded confusion and hardship. It was bad enough Roxas was being forced into a similar position, she didn't want to look back twenty years from now and wish she'd put more faith in her heart than in her head. Besides, she knew for a fact now that there was _something_ for Roxas in her heart, something more than just friendship.

"You're right Iroh, I think I should at least try. Besides, I know Roxas better than anyone ever will; I know he'd never joke about this sort of thing. He made it clear that he cares for me more than just his best friend, so I know he was being honest," she said with renewed confidence and clarity.

The old man nodded. "Do what you feel is right and you will be fine."

"Thank you Iroh, Roxas sure does know where to get good advice."

"My shop is always open for you," he said kindly, gathering up his things and stood, "but if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare the shop for the lunch rush."

"No problem, I have to go find Roxas' mom, who knows what kind of trouble she's gotten herself into."

With that, the silver haired girl ran down the stairs and into the stairs. One she was out of sight, Iroh sighed to himself.

"These kids today...makes me glad I'm old."

* * *

Roxas was now in Namine's room. She was fast asleep; she hadn't been getting a lot of sleep lately -not that he could blame her- and the only way for her to sleep now was for Roxas to stay with her until she did. He hadn't been able to do this sort of thing a lot though, because Kysrel's training ran ridiculous hours and he was usually too exhausted to make it to his own bed, let alone get to hers. Today was an exception though, one that he welcomed with open arms. Because of his mission he had been exempt from any kind of training until tomorrow, so he had time to come here and lull her to sleep.

He hated the condition she was in. Scared out of her life three quarters of the day and completely exhausted the others. She had huge bags under her eyes from lack of sleep and her skin had grown pale, too pale for a seven in a half year old girl. She hadn't seen the sun or any kind of warm light in half a year, and neither had he thanks to it being night on that world he'd gone to.

His sister lay in a deep slumber, leaning against his body as he lay there with her. Even while she was asleep she was latched onto his coat like she was trying to make sure he stayed in that exact spot until she woke up. He would do just that to. He had nothing else to do, so he was spending the day with her, even if all it was was watching over her while she slept.

He once again prayed that this nightmare was over soon. He couldn't watch his sister run herself into the ground like this, it wasn't healthy, it wasn't fair, and it wasn't right. Truth be told though, she was the only thing making this ordeal bearable, she was his last piece of home. He put his arms around her and held her tight; he wasn't going to lose her to. He didn't care if the universe came to an end, he wasn't laying another finger on her as long as Roxas lived.

He couldn't wait for the day where he finally got to ram his keyblade through his back and put an end to him. It would be one of the happiest moments of his life. That wasn't the darkness' influence either, that was all him and his own desire. That's what scared him the most to.

**

* * *

Okay, so Roxas is going a little kooky and Hikari is struggling a bit with all these wild emotions whirling around. Should be fun when they meet up again huh?**

**Also, as I said before, I don't watch Avatar...at all. So I was just wondering, if any of you are avatards out there, would you mind telling me how I did with Iroh. I think I captured that "Wise old man of the East" tone he has pretty well, but I'd like the opinions of the pros. Get back to me on that.**

**REVIEW!  
**


	28. Chapter 26: Coming Together

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 26

**Coming Together**

**Disclaimer: **NAAAAAAAAH

Ahhh, sorry about the uber long wait guys, I've had a lot of crap going on this week and couldn't find a lot of spare time. I trudged on though and I'm finally done.

Now, good/bad news. This chapter is special, special because it marks the beginning of the end of this story. If I had to estimate, we are a mere six or so chapters away from being completely done. The final battle is coming, and it will kick your ass so hard that you underwear will be lodged in you asshole.

I actually can't wait for the ending because it will be such a surprise...oh, I have to stop talking or I'll just end up ruining it!

Go, read before I spill the beans!

* * *

It had been another day and Hikari and Kairi were safely aboard the _Boeotia_ and were given quarters to rest in while they sped through hyperspace. Hikari had been aboard the ship dozens of times now and knew a good deal about it, and how to use its systems. She was no stranger to the communications systems, and had no problems accessing the one she needed to contact the Fateful base. She was luck enough to catch Xelskyr between missions and was now in a heated discussion, mostly because he had given her a particularly interesting piece of information.

"You really know where Kysrel's base is!?" she shouted.

The Nobody nodded. "I do; I fought him there once, back before all this started. His base resides in the Realm of Darkness, near the core, and come to think of it, it looked a lot like Destiny Island. Anyway, I would assume he's using the same base as before. I don't see why this is important though."

She gave him a dumb look, like he'd just said the stupidest thing in the universe. "Don't you get it; we can mount a rescue mission! We can grab a bunch of the Fateful and storm his base and rescue Namine and Roxas!" she said with an excited exclamation.

Xelskyr sighed and shook his head. "No, not happening."

"Why not!? If we know where he is we should at least try!"

"Hikari, I don't think you get it. Do you remember six months ago when you met up with Kysrel in Karakura town? You got demolished; there were seven of you against one of him and you still lost a man, and he didn't even have back-up. His base is defended by the last remnants of the heartless army, that's still hundreds of thousands, if not millions of heartless."

Hikari, despite his indisputable argument, was still mad at him. How could he abandon Roxas so easily? Oh, easy, he's a Nobody, he couldn't care less! She made the mistake of voicing that particular opinion.

"Look, it might be easy for you to abandon a friend in need, but I have an actual heart, and it's not as smooth a transition for me! I'm going to find a way to get him out of there, with or without your help or consent!" she shouted angrily.

Xelskyr sat back in his chair. "Look Hikari, I know you miss him, he was your best friend and it's understandable. But I'm trying to save your life here; going there, even with back-up, is nothing short of a suicide mission. Now calm down and be patient, we _will_ save him, I promise. Look, I have to head out on another mission; can I trust you not to do anything stupid?"

She crossed her arms and huffed angrily. "I promise nothing."

The Nobody sighed and cut the link. Hikari sat up, furious, trying to figure out the best way to get Roxas back. Now that she knew he was alive, she wouldn't stop until he was back where he belonged. If that meant disobeying even Xelskyr, she'd do it, he didn't scare her.

She couldn't stay in her room and stomped out into the corridors of the frigate, scowling heavily all the way. Everything seemed to be going wrong! First she finally figures out that her best friend likes her and that she actually likes him back, but he just _has_ to be working for the evil guy when that particular episode took place! Now she know where he is and no one is even considering a rescue mission!

She was so pissed that she didn't even know where she was going, and when she finally came back to reality, she somehow found herself in the hanger-bay. She sighed and sat down on a crate and buried her face in her hands, hoping the last almost seven months now had been one huge dream and she'd wake up to her dad shaking her like a doll and telling her she'd be late for school.

She had no such luck however, as she raised her head and still saw the same bleak metal encased room. She looked around; the room was all but deserted, and the only sound was the clacking of some footsteps coming from the upper levels that reverberated through the air of the hanger. She looked over to her left and saw the Cipher, Rhys custom dropship/fighter.

She stood and put her hand onto the cold hull, admiring its sleek design, but also its worn and torn décor. She had never really seen much of the ship except for the one time she'd ridden in it, and was curious, not to mention bored.

She opened the entrance hatch with a quick button press and hopped in, inspecting the interior. There really wasn't much but a few crates and seats in the rear compartment, so she decided to check out the cockpit.

She plopped down in the seat and lazily looked at the controls. She was shocked though, at the familiarity of the consoles. She remembered back to her thirteenth birthday, her dad decided it would be fun to giver her Gummi ship flying lessons. Gummi ships had always fascinated her, and Sora, who had one, gladly lent it to them for a while. She caught on quickly and loved every second of the lessons, memorizing what all the buttons and switches did, and learned some pretty fancy tricks.

Looking at the Cipher's control system, it was shockingly similar to a Gummi ship's interface, almost frighteningly so. She sat there, thinking things through, and slowly, a particularly devious and drastic plan formed in her head, but if it worked, she might be able to save Roxas.

* * *

Rhys sat in his captains chair, and as usual, was bored out of his mind. His merc service was pretty much at a halt while he was helping Xelskyr with what he was calling, the "war effort". Some war, six months of service and only a few battles, and out of them, only one posed an actual threat to his metallic behemoth of a ship.

He was just about to fall asleep when an alarm suddenly started beeping like crazy over on the internal sensors. He jumped out of his seat and leaned over the control console.

"What's up?" he asked the operator.

"Sir, I'm reading a hull breach!" he said in a surprised tone, "The damage came from weapons fire...inside the ship."

"Inside the ship, what the hell does that mean!?" he shouted.

"Sir, now I'm reading a vessel outside the _Boeotia_, it's the Cipher."

He growled loudly and rushed over to the communications, litterally pushing the operator out of his seat and took up the headset himself. He angrily opened a channel to the Cipher and began spouting insults at whoever dared take his property.

"Alright, whoever you are, get my ship back in my hanger bay or so help me God I will blow your ass straight out of hyperspace!" he shouted.

"Uh...sir?" called the sensor operator.

"WHAT!"

"Uh...the Cipher just dropped out of hyperspace."

Rhys sat there for a moment, slowly took of the headset, then promptly threw it to the floor and stomped on it in anger.

"Son-of-a-bitch!"

* * *

Hikari actually laughed a bit at Rhys angry demeanor. He got flustered so easily when any of his property was in danger, it was almost comical. She sighed, step one was finished. Now she had to complete step two: gather her own personal fighting force. She couldn't rely on the Fateful for support anymore, and there was no way Rhys would be on board after that little stunt. Still, she had a few people she knew would help out, and the best part was that they were all just as good as any Fateful member, if not better.

First guy on her list; Naruto. The blond ninja and Roxas hung out a lot after their first mission, and she knew he'd come along in a heartbeat it he knew Roxas was in a jam. She looked through the navicomputer and found his world in the log, then imput the proper coordinates. She knew for a fact from Rhys that the Cipher was without hyperdrive capabilities, but lucky for her, Naruto's world wasn't too far off, and hyperdrives were more for convenience than actual necessity.

Even with only the ion drives, she could still gather everyone up in about a day. Once she'd done that, it was time for step three: finding her dad. Her dad had not only been to the dark realm, but had been immersed in the darkness completely for a while; if anyone knew of a way to get there other than a corridor, it was him. Plus, they would of course support her rescue operation, which would make a huge difference.

With her mission set and her objectives clear, she punched the autopilot in, and sat back. It was going to be a long ride.

* * *

Two hours and more than a few parasecs later...

Naruto happily marched down the dirt paths of the Fire country. It was the best day on recent record so far, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the smell of summer was strong in the air. This only added to the glee he felt at returning home; two in a half years of training with that pervy sage had paid off and now he was finally heading back to Konoha. He could already taste Ichiraku's ramen in his mouth, which only made him go faster.

Jiraiya on the other hand, was never a morning person and was at least twenty feet behind him. Lazily slouching and yawning ever few minutes, he reminded Naruto of Shikimaru.

Everything was calm and quiet until the blond heard a odd hum, like the hum of an engine. He looked up in time to see a grayish ship landing on the path they were walking on. He instantly jumped back and drew two kunai, Jiraiya stayed back, but made no hostile movements as of yet. They both eyed the vehicle suspiciously until the rear hatch opened up and they saw the familiar silver locks of Hikari's hair. Naruto smiled and put his weapons away so to go and greet his friend.

"Hey Hikari, what are you doing here, and where's Roxas?" he said, peeking into the ship.

She looked at him sadly. "That's sort of why I'm here. Naruto...there's something you should know."

He put on a confused look, which transformed to worried and enraged as Hikari's explanation went on. By the time she was done explaining the situation, he looked like he was about to stab the next person who pissed him off.

"I was hoping you'd help me," she finished.

"You bet I will," he turned to face Jiraiya, "And don't even think about telling me no, because I'm going whether you want me to or not!"

The silver haired sage shrugged. "He's your friend, who am I to say no. Besides, Tsunade isn't expecting us back for another week anyway."

Naruto turned back to Hikari and nodded. He jumped right into the ship, and Hikari was about to head in as well when she heard Jiraiya call to her.

"Hikari, I was hoping you'd be back soon, I have a present for you," he said, pulling out a scroll from one of his pouches.

He placed it in her hand, and she looked up at him.

"Is this...?"

He nodded. "Yup, the complete up to date series, all signed by yours truly. The scroll is designed to release the books when it comes in contact with the keyblade, so just tap it when you want to read them."

Hikari grinned and stuck the scroll in a pouch on her waist.

"Well, here's another thing I've gotta keep secret from my parents," she mused to herself.** (HAHAHAHAHA, Hikari is a perv!)**

"Thanks Jiraiya, I can't wait to read them," she said as she boarded the Cipher.

Jiraiya smiled and watched as the ship lifted into the air. With his student gone, he was free to do what he wanted. He thought about heading back to the town they'd just passed through, it looked like they had some nice bars.

* * *

Kysrel meanwhile, was smirking as he stood on the shores of the dark Destiny Island. He always did have a fondness for this place, even with all its sand, maybe it was all the memories the real place held. He would be sure to destroy that world first when he re-opened Kingdom Hearts. After all, he wouldn't be breaching his and Roxas' agreement; he promised him he wouldn't harm Namine, he said nothing about the islands or the rest of its inhabitants.

He was beginning his preparations for summoning Kingdom Hearts and closing the Door to Light. He already had two of the three pieces to the puzzle, and if what he had just observed was any indication, the final one was on rush delivery. He could hardly wait, only a day more and he would have his prize, and another pawn for him to manipulate.

His self-gratification was interrupted as he heard foot steps from behind him. He turned away from his work to see Roxas in his Organization coar, his hood drawn over his head, staring at him.

"Can I help you my friend?" he asked in his usual sly and superior tone.

"We're not friends," he shot back flatly, "I'm curious though, what are you doing?"

He she grinned and turned back to the shore.

"Just watch."

Roxas did just that, he sat back and he watched, only to be amazed at what he saw before him. In a huge flash of light, a giant set of white doors with stained glass windows and elegant engravements materialize in the water, just a bit off shore. The most jawdropping thing was, the doors themselves had two huge chains wrapped around them in a "X" fashion, with two keyholes, one on each side.

Kysrel slowly stepped into the water and waded there until he was directly in front of the doors, running his fingers across its smooth surface.

"Look at it Roxas," he said suddenly, "this used to be the symbol of power in the universe, it was the destroyer of armies, maker of kings, the driving force of all greed, the source of all strength."

His arms dropped to his sides, almost like he was mourning.

"But now, because of your family..."

He suddenly disappeared and then re-appeared behind Roxas.

In one swift motion, he gripped the back of the younger brunettes head and threw him against the white doors, then soon joined him, forcing the boys face against the cold surface.

"Look at what it's become! Nothing but a monument to days long passed, the ages where you survived because you were worthy, you were strong! Now look at the worlds, the heartless are in retreat and darkness is no longer a threat; people are getting content and fat! It disgusts me to the very core, but I'll change all that. Yes, once Hikari gets here, I aim to set everything right. The universe will once again be a place for the strong and the worthy, people will survive because they deaden themselves and do what must be done to stay alive, no matter how horrendous or immoral they may believe it to be! I will drag this existence kicking and screaming but in the end they will thank me!" **(1)**

While he was on another one of his rants, Roxas was struggling to not have his head splattered on the doors of Kingdom Hearts.

"You're one twisted fuck, you know that?" he growled.

For that he was rewarded by having his head pulled back and slammed into the doors once again.

"Sticks and stones Roxas, sticks and stones," he mused.

He finally released his grip and calmly walked back to the shore, leaving Roxas leaning against Kingdom Hearts, holding his now bleeding forehead. Kysrel looked over his shoulder at him and snickered.

"Roxas, you may want to clean yourself up a bit. We are expecting company."

* * *

Another three hours later...

"This thing is awesome Hikari, is it yours?" asked Naruto, who had just joined her in the cockpit.

She shook her head. "Nah, I kind of stole it."

He snickered. "Wow, I never knew you had such a wild streak."

She was about to say something when the autopilot began beeping at her and she promptly shut it off and began taking them in for a landing. They were entering the atmosphere of Karakura town, on their way to recruit Ichigo and who else wanted to come along. She activated the stealth systems, it was a heavily populated area, and they didn't want to attract too much attention.

They broke through the clouds and were now flying over the buildings of Karakura town, heading for Urahara's shop. Even if Ichigo wasn't there, he'd probably show up, or Urahara might have a way to contact him. She used the scanners to map the city and finally found the shop after about two full sweeps. She piloted the craft down and landed in the back-alley.

As they exited the craft and headed towards the shop, they could already hear the arguments erupting from the room. They pushed the door open and waltzed into the back room to see, what was for them, a normal sight.

Ichigo and Matt were on the ground in a life or death struggle...over a sandwich. Ichigo was on his back and Matt was hovering over him, both of them clutching onto the small food like it was a diamond. It looked like a draw until Matt did something unexpected, he clambed down on Ichigo's hand with his teeth, causing the elder of the two to yelp and pull his hands back, leaving the raven haired boy victorious.

"Ah, damn it! Why do you always get the sandwiches!"

He smirked with his mouthful. "Cuz I'm just awesome like that."

Hikari broke the conversation with a quick clearing of her throat, gaining both boys attention.

"Oh, hey Hikari, what brings you here?" asked Ichigo.

She sighed and took a seat at the table, upset that she had to explain all this again. Their reactions were the same as Naruto's when he first heard about it, though Ichigo's was even more violent, as it seemed like he was about to rip everyone's head off and drink their blood.

He slammed his fist down on the table.

"That's it, I'm not sitting around and waiting for him to kill everyone, I'm coming with you!"

"That's kind of why I was here. I wanted to know if you could join a team I'm putting together to rescue him and hopefully even take out Kysrel, but that's secondary."

The orange haired soul reaper nodded. "I'm in."

Matt nodded as well. "Sure, I'm game for some action."

"Great, I've got a ship outside, we should get going as soon as possible."

* * *

"Then she just dropped out of hyperspace and left!" shouted Rhys.

Xelskyr pinched the bridge between his eyes and sighed. He had just gotten back from a mission and now he had to deal with this. Rhys had just recounted everything up until Hikari's hijacking of the Cipher, and he was _pissed_.

"Alright Rhys, just run through your database and check out all the worlds you visited in the last six months, she's bound to be at one of them. Other than that, the only thing I can do is have my people keep their eyes open. We have ships to, but I've only got two people capable of flying them, and I need them both here to keep up base defenses."

"Fine, Rhys out," he growled before shutting down the channel.

Xleksyr leaned back in his hair and sighed again. Great, now they had both gone rouge, just peachy. Not only did he have to find both of them now, but he had to explain this to Kairi. Ever since Roxas and Namine had gone missing, Hikari seemed to be the only thing keeping the woman sane. Now that she had struck out on her own, he was...worried? Well, something along those lines.

Anyway, he didn't really want to see her reaction to the fact that the girl who she saw as a second daughter had gone missing as well. He just couldn't get a break; who'd have thought not existing could be so hard.

* * *

Finally, another two in a half hours later...

Hikari had finally reached her last destination, the world Iroh, Aang, and Katara lived on. This world, like Naruto's and Ichigo's was particularly large, and she had to use the ships bio scanners just to find them. Luckily, they were in the same area as the last time she was here.

Once again she activated the stealth systems and flew downward towards the city of Ba Sing Se. She had to admit, without the stormy skies and rain, it was a beautiful city at night. According to the scanners, Aang was at Irohs tea shop, and she was relatively sure she could find it without much trouble.

She was proven correct as she was easily able to spot it with her birds eye view. She slowly and lightly set the ship down in a nearby alley so not to attract any attention with the noise and kicked up dirt. She exited through the rear compartment, observing what the rest of the group was doing as she passed.

Naruto, Ichigo, and Matt, along with two of Naruto's clones were in a heated poker game. Apparently Naruto -well, one of them- was winning because as she passed, Ichigo groaned and Matt threw his hand against the wall and crossed his arms angrily.

She shook her head as and exited the ship and out into the world. She rounded two corners and climbed the steps to the shop. It was pretty late at night, so she doubted anyone would be here except Aang and Iroh.

Again, she was proven right as the tea shop was completely empty except for the kind old man and the bald teen. She walked in with a smile as she approached the counter. Aang turned in his seat and Iroh looked up, both smiled and waved.

"Hi Hikari, back already?" asked Aang cheerfully.

"Yes, not that it's not a pleasure, but I would like to know why you are back so soon."

Hikari sighed, '_here we go again_.'

This time the explanation was shorter, seeing as they were a bit more up to date on the current events, and basically just told them about her plan to save Roxas.

"Look, I know it seems crazy, but I can't just leave him."

Iroh leaned on the counter. "I do believe he made you promise to _not_ try and save him, that it was safer if you stayed away," he pointed out.

"I know he did, but...I just can't. I know where he is and there are already people with me to help, we can do this! Please Aang, it would mean a lot," she pleaded.

Aang gave her a skeptic look at first, but then just shrugged and hopped off his chair.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time I went on a dangerous and supposedly impossible mission. Could you explain this to Katara Iroh, I think she'll understand."

The old man nodded. "Just don't do anything reckless, both of you."

They both nodded, then headed out of the shop and back to the Cipher.

* * *

Kysrel stood atop his spire-like base, still with his confident and cocky grin smeared across his face. He could tell that Hikari was amassing her own little team to assault his world. It was almost cute, she thought she could fight him all by herself. Too bad she was doing exactly what he wanted her to, otherwise he might have actually thought her a minimal threat.

He didn't want to reveal his hand just yet, after all, she was planning on gathering up the two prized keyblade bearers. Sora and Riku would make supurb opponents, their skill matched and probably even exceeded his own. He was giddy at the thought. After all, once the power of Kingdom Herts was his, it wouldn't matter who rose against him, he would be all but invincible, a god.

No force, no army, no warrior could stop him. He smiled even wider, it was almost showtime, he might as well roll out the red carpet.

**

* * *

Okay, I hope you guys liked it, especially since you had to wait a week for it. Once again, sorry about that.**

**Once announcement I'd like to make is that I'm on my schools bowling team now (I know, I'm such a super-stud right?), and with practice and all, I might not be able to write all the time, so updates may get a little more stainous. I'm not sure, we'll see what happens.**

**(1) Does anyone here know where I got the last line in that paragraph from. I'll give you a hint, it was a book, then became a movie.  
**

**Review please.  
**


	29. Chapter 27: Two Front Revolt

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 27

**Two Front Revolt**

**Disclaimer: **AEROERIGHONGSERYAEIBAEOTRBNAYEREBION!!! (I got bored)

AAAAAAGH! So...sick. As I'm writing this, I just got back from a scavenger hunt across my entire home town, and then went to a pizza party right afterwords. I was so hungry when I got there, I at half the entire pizza and about a pound of bread-sticks...I feel so sick now.

Anyway, more excitement in this chapter, as I'm sure you know who's finally making a long awaited appearance this chapter. Still, if for some reason you can't figure it out, I won't say. Just go read and be amazed once more.

...I'm gonna go puke now.

* * *

"So how the hell are we supposed to find your dad anyway?" asked Ichigo.

Once Hikari had gathered up her personal strike force, she set out to find her dad and Sora out in the void of Inter-space. It was proving even more daunting than the girl had anticipated, and her frustration was growing. She'd already checked the Kings Castle, nothing; Radiant Garden was just as lucky, and even though she already knew they wouldn't be there, she checked Destiny Island again.

She was running out of places to look, and as now just floating around in the middle of space while she brainstormed in the rear compartment with the rest of the group.

"I don't know, I've already checked every place that they might be, and I can't think of anywhere else."

"Well let's think, what would your dad be doing right now?" asked Aang.

Hikari stroked her chin and thought.

"Well, he was investigating on Kysrel and stuff last I checked. Let's think, if I were going to look for information about someone I knew could control the heartless and had access to the realm of darkness, where would I use as a base?"

The answer eluded her, where would you go? What world would have a way to investigate the realm of darkness safely and efficiently without having to actually enter it? It would have to be a world awfully close to the realm of darkness, but not so close that it was completely overrun by heartless.

'_Wait a sec, the equal mix between Light and Dark is Twilight…duh.'_

She smacked her forehead at the obvious answer, of course they'd use that world as a base, it was perfect for what they were doing. She immediately stood up and rushed into the cockpit, setting into the control seat. Everyone poked their heads in, curious as to what she was doing.

"What's going Hikari?" asked Naruto.

"I know where my dad and Sora are, and I'm an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. My dad mentioned this world so many times in his stories it's embarrassing I forgot."

"Well where are we going?" asked Ichigo.

Hikari looked over her shoulder as she fired up the ion engines and smiled.

"A place called Twilight Town."

* * *

All the way through the vast vacuum of space, a small old room housed a certain duo, a brunette and a silver haired man. The brunette was none other than Sora, and the silver haired man was his long time best friend and partner, Riku. They were using the old Usual Spot that Sora had visited many times on his journey to defeat Organization XIII. Hayner, Pence, and Olette had been overjoyed to see him and were quick to volunteer each of their homes for their efforts, but they didn't want to impose, and instead used their old hang out with they didn't use anymore.

It was enough for the two of them and it was easy for Donald, Goofy, and the King to find them, as they'd all been there before as well. Their investigation had turned up a few interesting things along the way. They had found the identity of the attacker that was using the heartless, a man named Kysrel. Apparently Roxas and Hikari had run into him because some of the people he'd talked to mentioned two teenagers that looked a lot like them fighting him on a number of occasions. Leon and the others even mentioned a lot of ruckus a few months ago out in the Dark Depths, but when they got there, they didn't find anyone. The place was a complete wreck though, everything was in ruin.

They were still at square one, they had no idea where their kids were. Riku was a wreck as well, worrying like crazy over Hikari. Sora wasn't so concerned about Roxas, he had a keyblade so he'd be able to protect himself, but Hikari was a different story. He hated the idea of not tracking them down, but they had no idea where to begin to look and couldn't afford to waste any time. Heartless movement was at an all time high, and the old gang was spread thin trying to defend the worlds and run an investigation at the same time.

They were going over some information they'd gathered recently when a strange humming was heard just out in the alley. Both men abandon their seats to see what was going on outside. What they saw was a ship a little smaller than a gummi ship landing on one of the buildings roofs, both men summoned their keyblades. They waited for a moment as they heard one of the hatches open, anticipating a possible attack. What neither of them expected to see was a group of teenagers jump down from the structures roof, all of them sort of ignoring the two armed warriors in front of them.

One was blond with a headband holding up his hair, dressed in a orange and black jumpsuit. Another was a orange haired man with black robes and a sword so large it rivaled Clouds. Next to him was a black haired boy in similar dress, save for the claymore across his shoulders instead of a massive cleaver. Lastly, a bald kid with an arrow tattoo on his head, in orange and yellow robes, wielding a staff. It was an odd group, but hey, they'd seen stranger things.

The last member had yet to appear though, and her grand entrance was one Riku was not prepared for.

"Dad!" shrieked a female voice from above.

Riku looked up a second too late and was attacked by his daughter, who had leaped straight from the roof onto him. When he finally realized who had tackled him, he quickly sat up and pulled her into a hug.

"Hikari, what are you doing here!? You have a lot of explaining to do young lady!"

She shook her head. "Not now, we've got trouble, I need your help," she said in a suddenly grave tone.

Both Sora and Riku both looked perplexed, and after exchanging confused looks, decided to bite.

"What's wrong?"

She looked down sullenly, fighting back tears.

"It's Roxas."

* * *

The hour that followed the groups arrival had been an eventful one. Hikari had gone over a rough outline of what had transpired after she ran off with Roxas with the Fateful. Riku went from anger at her for running away, to shock to her having a keyblade, then to pride as she described her training, then finally fear as she recounted their battles and finally Roxas's and Namine's capture and subjugation to Kysrel. Sora on the other hand, was wearing an expression of blind rage, not only at Kysrel, but at himself. He should never had let him handle this on his own, he should have known there was something more going on!

From her description of him, Sora figure he must be a skilled keyblade warrior, but what intrigued him was the fact that the Nobody that had alerted him to this whole situation, was actually their enemies Nobody. It went against everything he'd believed years ago; that humans were the good guys and Heartless and Nobodies were the bad guys. It turns out this whole situation was the exact antithesis of that belief. Still, with all this new information, he knew what they were really dealing with, and who he could and couldn't count on.

"So that's why I came to find you, I figured that if anyone knew how to get into the realm of darkness without a corridor it would be you," she finished explaining.

Sora sighed and leaned forward in his seat. "Hikari, I appreciate what you're trying to do, in fact, I can't put into words my gratitude for the lengths you're going to...but going into the realm of darkness, even for us, would be a suicide mission."

Hikari wore a saddened expression. If Sora said it, then it must be true.

"However," he said suddenly, causing Hikari to look up again, "I just happen to be a fan of suicide missions."

Hope filled her up again. "Does that mean you'll help us!?"

Sora gave a determined nod. "No one harms my family the way Kysrel has and gets away with it. If Roxas hasn't already ripped him limb from limb, then I will."

Riku cleared his throat, gaining every ones attention.

"The problem of getting into the Realm of Darkness is still an issue though," he said analytically.

"Dad, you've gotta have _something_ up your sleeve, you were inside the Realm of Darkness, you must know some way in!"

The silver haired man smirked. "I might have something."

"Would you care to enlighten those of us who have no clue what you're talking about?" said Ichigo.

Riku nodded. "Gladly my carrot-topped friend. You see, a while back, before probably any of you were born, there was a group called Organization XIII. They were a group of Nobodies not unlike the Fateful, except they were using their power to try and reclaim their hearts by using Kingdom Hearts, the source of all worlds and life in the universe. Sora and I were able to stop them before they caused any irreparable damage, but we were almost trapped in the Realm of Darkness in the process."

Hikari nodded. "I remember you telling me about that in your stories."

"What you don't know Hikari, is that after we defeated Organization XIII, the World That Never Was, their base, went into a massive implosion, causing what I dubbed a _'Void Zone'. _Basically, it's a pathway into the realm of nothingness, an empty space in between the realities of Light and Dark. For most it's completely useless, but for someone who had spent quality time with the darkness, such as myself, it's the perfect bridge between the Light and Dark realms."

"That's great!" exclaimed Hikari, "Let's get going!"

"Hold your horses," said Riku, raising his hands in a motion to settle, "I need to calibrate the hyper-drive on the Gummi ship, that's what will initiate the jump from Light to Dark realms. It'll take an hour or so, just settle down until then."

She sighed but nodded in agreement.

"Right, well I'll get started right away, I'll call you when we're set to go."

Sora nodded. "Got it."

As Riku left, Sora turned back to the group of teens.

"Alright, so I think it would be good if I knew who you all are, so what are your names?"

First the blond kid spoke up. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, ninja extraordinaire and future Hokage. Also a good friend of Roxas. I'm gonna smash that bastard Kysrel's face in for what he's done!"

Next was the oranged haired oldest group member. "Ichigo Kurosaki, deputy soul reaper. I've got a...vendetta with Kysrel."

The black haired boy next to him spoke next. "I'm Matt Anderson, fellow deputy soul reaper. Roxas seemed like a good guy, and I can't stand jack-offs like Kysrel taking advantage of good people, so here I am."

Lastly, the bald one. "I'm Aang, the avatar. I got to know Hikari, and she asked me to come along to help save Roxas. If he's her best friend, that's enough for me."

Sora nodded, Hikari sure knew how to pick em'.

"Well then, my name is Sora, and I'm Roxas' father. It's good to know he's made friends on his journey, and I can't thank you enough for being here."

They all smiled and nodded. Sora looked around and saw five exceptional fighters; they had a chance and success yet.

* * *

The moon shone over the coast of the dark Destiny Island. Roxas stood on the shore, letting the tides slide against his boots, wishing he could be home, feeling the real thing. He would have given one of his limbs to just sit on the sun kissed beaches of Destiny Island with Hikari and his sister like he used to, if only for one day. He drove the thoughts away though; remembering only made things harder and more painful. The moon was his sun, the murk was his water, and the rocks were his trees; he'd sacrificed all those comforts to keep Namine safe, and in the long run, it was all still worth it.

His eyes narrowed when he heard footsteps behind him, already knowing who it was.

"What do you want Kysrel?" he spat venomously.

"Tsk tsk tsk, such hostility, and here I was coming to deliver _good_ news for a change."

He turned his head and stared at him with his iced over eyes.

"What, you're dying of cancer?"

Kysrel took the insult with stride and simply laughed like it was some joke, when in reality, Roxas would have loved nothing more. It was far less painful that what he had in mind for him, but it all had the same end product, and that was what he needed.

"Hardly, I just came to say that not only is Hikari coming to save you as I predicted, but yours and her father are coming along for the ride. Should be fun no?"

Roxas' eyes narrowed ever further, if that were possible.

"It'll be such fun, I've always wanted to face those two down. It'll be such a satisfying feeling when their corpses are lying at my feet, I imagine it may even be orgasmic. He-he-he, I really can't thank you enough Roxas, you've brought me such entertainment."

Roxas' eyes flashed in a burst of rage, and Kysrel saw it. Roxas summoned Oathbreaker and sliced at Kysrel, only to have it blocked by Kysrel's keyblade.

"My, my, such a temper on you. I'm paying you a compliment, is this how you plan to repay me?"

Roxas growled, almost to a point where it became a feral roar.

"Thank you for what you psychotic motherfucker, for kidnapping my sister, hurting my friends, traumatizing my mother, breaking my family, seperating me from everyone who ever loved me and I ever loved!? I'd sacrifice my own eye's before I'd thank you for anything!"

Kysrel began giggling again. "Sacrifice your eye's, eh? Well that's not such a high price in the scheme of things Roxas," he said slyly, "and that hurt my feelings. Luckily I'm in a generous mood today, so...I'LL ONLY TAKE ONE!"

Roxas' eyes widened as Kysrel knocked away his keyblade and lifted it into the air again. As he brought it down, Roxas acted quickly and caught the blade with both his hands, staving off the attack. Kysrel had his familiar grin smeared on his face.

"I see that training payed off after all, you're reflexes have improved greatly!"

Roxas threw all his weight forward and pushed Kysrel back, then re-summoned Oathbreaker.

"I don't care what happens anymore, I'm done with you! I'm gonna kill you and take Namine back home, so let's finish this!"

While he was talking, his aura of power began to form, kicking up sand and rock as his aura slowly grew from a glow, into a raging torrent of darkness. Enough to impress even Kysrel.

He smiled to himself, summoning his own dark aura. This might be more fun than he thought; oh how he loved this game called life and death. Roxas leaped forward to take the offensive, using speed Kysrel didn't expect, and their blades collided, forcing Kysrel farther back than he would have liked.

'_The cretin must have trained more than I estimated. HOW FUN!'_

As the strike ended and Roxas jumped back a few paces, Kysrel almost began to drool from anticipation. He was so excited he lost control of his power, and it all flowed out, causing an all out sand storm on the dark shores.

"Show me Roxas...," he mumbled, "**SHOW ME YOUR POWER!**"

With that, he darted forward at maximum speed, and Roxas activated an Omnislash, glowing in a gold and black aura. The only thing left to do was wait for the two attacks to collide, and the real fight to begin.

**

* * *

Oh snap! Shit is going down, I repeat, shit is going down!** **Man the hatches, sound general quarters, raise the shields, cancel the birthday parties, evacuate Bobo the clown, it's all going down!**

**...to much?**

**...right...**

**Anyway, review and stuff.  
**


	30. Chapter 28: Counter Offensive

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 28

**Offensive and Counter-Offensive**

**Disclaimer: **Lalalalalalalalalala

Okay, so it's official...I'm sick. Not a lot, only a little, but sick. So far I've only got a sore throat, so I'm hoping it's just the 24 hour stuff, but who knows. Either way I was a little out of it when I wrote the second half or so of this chapter, so bear with me.

Anyway, more secrets to be revealed in this chapter. Plus, beloved character -Kingdom Hearts or otherwise- will be returning to kick some bad guy booty. This really is the home stretch here people, I'd guess only about four or five more chapters until we're finished, but hey' I've been wrong before.

Lets just get through this chapter before anything else.

* * *

It was a spectacle to behold. The gold and black energies colliding and mixing together to create one giant torrent of power was a beauty and a terror at the same time. The devastation of Roxas' Omnislash colliding with Kysrel's powerful aura was felt for miles across the dark world. Rocks shattered, sand was thrown into the air, and the wind swirled in howling rage.

When the two opponents completed their attacks, they stood on opposite ends of the beach again, staring intently at one another. They had both been wounded in the clash of power. Roxas had a long and deep gash on his right side just below his ribs which bled out profusely. Kysrel however, had seven different wounds all across his torso, varying in severity.

Roxas groaned at the pain that his wound caused him, but Kysrel only laughed at his, like he had just been tickled by a feather.

"Ah, that was fun Roxas, not to mention quite painful! Not many can inflict these kinds of injuries on my anymore, you're far more developed than I thought!" he shouted in glee.

Roxas poured more power into Oathbreaker.

"I'll show you just how _developed_ I've become!" he shouted back as he fired off a monster of a dark wave; its size and power rivaled that of Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho or Naruto's Strong Ball.

Kysrel thrust his keyblade forward and pierced the attack head on, dissipating it into thin air. Only after the attack was disposed of, did Kysrel see Roxas' plan. The younger keyblade master leaped through the mist of dissipated darkness and planted his right foot on Kysrel's outstretched blade, then used his left foot to deliver a strong kick to the side of his opponents head.

Kysrel was pushed back a few feet, but remained standing. After he stopped and regained his balance, his maniacal laughing continued as he charged straight for Roxas. Roxas thrust his blade forward, but only managed to graze his mentally insane opponent's cheek. Kysrel thrust his own blade forward, and very nearly stabbed Roxas in the stomach if it wasn't for the fact that the younger brunette caught the blade with his now bleeding hand.

Kysrel snarled like an animal and swept his leg under Roxas', knocking him to the ground. He made another attempt to impale him, only to have him roll onto his side, avoid the attack, then thrust his left foot upward and strike Kysrel in the chin.

As Kysrel recoiled back, Roxas rolled to his feet and grunted at the stinging in the hand that had caught Kysrel's keyblade. The blood dripped in small droplets and the air was nipping at the opened flesh like a bug bite.

He ignored the pain though, as Kysrel was coming at him again, his evil aura still resonating into the air around them. He made wild and unpredictable swings at Roxas with his blade like he was lost in some trance of blood-lust. It was terrifying and mystifying at the same time. His tongue hung limply out of his mouth and he laughed as the cold sweat from his forehead dripped onto his face and the blood from his wounds dribbled down his body.

He was a juggernaut of malice, a bulldozer of destruction; Roxas wasn't sure how he would stop him if he just kept disregarding all the wounds that were already inflicted on him. It was like he was intentionally leaving himself open so Roxas would attack him, almost like he was asking him to kill him. Maybe it was that he enjoyed the pain, maybe he didn't care or maybe he was so far gone that he didn't feel it anymore and didn't even know he was injured.

Roxas didn't really care at this point; he was more focused on dodging his increasingly fast and furious attacks.

He cried out as Kysrel finally scored a hit, slicing up his upper chest, right above his heart and below his throat. He stumbled backwards and placed his hand over it, but still, he knew he wouldn't lose. He knew this for two reasons, one was because he knew for a fact he was stronger than Kysrel, he just knew it. The second reason was because not matter what he did; Kysrel wouldn't kill because he was still needed. He was in the perfect position, and he laughed; he certainly had Kysrel in checkmate.

"You're laughing, are you having fun to!?" he said in a sick happiness.

He shook his head. "No Ksyrel, I'm laughing because I've already won."

"How is that?" he asked, suddenly more serious.

"No matter what I do, you still need me alive so I can unlock Kingdom Hearts with you. You won't kill me, but I'm not bound by the same restrictions."

Kysrel was silent for a moment, then Roxas heard him chuckle, then that chuckled turned into laughter, and finally that laughter turned into a roar of amusement.

"Is that what you think!? Roxas you're even more idiotic than I thought!"

Roxas didn't understand what he was saying. "What does that mean, what are you talking about!?"

"Roxas, do you know why I gave you the power of darkness? It's because I knew something like this would arise! Let me explain something to you Roxas; keyblades of light choose their wielders through the power of their hearts, but dark keyblades choose their wielders though the power of their darkness! My darkness is stronger than yours Roxas, it always has been and always will be because you fight it, you refuse to let it take hold of you!"

The explanation hit him like a load of bricks; somehow he just knew what would happen next. Kysrel outstretched his free left hand, and suddenly, Oathbreaker was pulled from Roxas' hand, and into Kysrels. He was defenseless; Kysrel had his keyblade!

"Your keyblade is of the element of Twilight, but I inserted many attributes of a dark keyblade into it when I transformed it into Oathbreaker. Those attributes respond to my power, and allow me to wield your blade alongside my own," he explained with a smug expression of victory.

"T-then…all this time…you just let me _think_…I was in control. You saw this coming…a mile away."

"Don't feel bad Roxas," he said mockingly, "it was still an impressive attempt, I would have done the same. Great minds think alike I suppose."

That was the last straw. Roxas charged him unarmed, his hands blazing with dark energy, his eyes growing darker as well; he screamed as he ran.

"I AM NOT LIKE YOU!" he bellowed in rage.

He threw a punch forward with all his power and strength, which collided with the broad side of Kysrel's keyblade. The blow was completely deflected, but the resonating momentum of the punch that traveled past Kysrel completely blew apart everything behind him for half a mile. The beaches rocky terrain was completely flattened from the left over power of his one punch.

Kysrel smirked before ramming his knee into Roxas' stomach, causing him to spit up a good amount of blood. As Roxas rose again, Kysrel fired a dark blast right into his face, blowing him clear across the length beach. He joined the younger boy in moments thanks to his speed, and lifted him up with his free left hand, as he dispelled Oathbreaker.

He held Roxas up against a particularly large rock by his neck, ripping at his skin and peeling it away with his vice-like grip. With malice gleaming in his eyes, he shoved his keyblade into his right shoulder, then summoned Oathbreaker again, and did the same to Roxas' left shoulder.

Roxas cried out in pain as the two metal blades burned at his muscles and bones, pinning him to the stone. Kysrel chuckled in amusement at his pain, and turned to leave.

"I'm going to leave you alive for now, I want you to watch as I kill every last person that you hold dear."

"Whe…where are…y-you going?"

He looked over his shoulder with a huge grin on his face, his eyes wide for reasons unknown.

"I just told you Roxas, I'm going to kill everyone you hold dear. I'm just heading back to the base to get the first victim."

Roxas knew instantly who he was referring to and screamed curses at him as he left him pinned to the rock.

"If I don't kill you, then Hikari and the Fateful will! You'll pay for this!" he shouted in the distance.

Again, Kysrel chuckled as he walked off.

"Oh, I highly doubt it. I would expect the Fateful to be a bit pre-occupied as of right about now," he said happily to himself.

* * *

"Where the fuck did they all come from!?" shouted Aehxcilm.

It had been a pretty calm day at the Fateful base; nobody was off on assignment…well of course except for Xelskyr, he was off with Rhys trying to track down Hikari. Other than that, nothing worth mentioning had happened the entire day until Axnes and Elkxyse had gotten some weird spatial distortion readings on the sensors, then all of a sudden, a huge army of heartless just popped up all around the plateau that covered the Fateful base. Everyone under the command of Xealx rushed out to combat the threat.

"Beats the hell out of me, but at least it's exciting right?" replied Ranxao.

The two stood back to back, Aehxcilm holding his broad-sword and Ranxao a large war-axe. Aehxcilm swung his sword, sending a wave of flames outward, scorching away the heartless in front of him. Meanwhile Ranxao used his power of manipulation over plants to accelerate the growth rate of the grass around them, and mutated them to make them as sharp as any blade. In a matter of seconds he had a small army of grass tendrils that sliced through the heartless in mass, while swiping with his axe, destroying even more.

A short distance away, Nevax and Hyrxs were dealing with their own heartless problem. Nevax gracefully danced through the army of black beings with his bladed-oar, and fired of the occasional ice spell. Hyrxs on the other hand, fired off a series of sonic blasts from his horn, blowing away dozens of heartless with every breath.

On the cliff-side of the plateau, the bases defense systems had been activated and several defensive turrets had sprung out of the rock and fired deadly projectiles into the fray. Axnes stood atop the cliff-side, holding two Uzi sub-machine guns, firing on groups of heartless scaling the stone walls. Elkxyse was on the cliff as well calling down lightning strikes to help destroy the climbing heartless.

Xealx was isolated from the rest of the group, fighting alone out in the middle of the massive groups of heartless, massacring everything and anything that got within twenty feet of him. He was beginning to tire already however; they just didn't seem to end. He was relieved though when Venxdi appeared next to him, wielding a short-sword and slicing through the heartless. She slid and stood next to him.

"Good timing, I assume you have something to help us?"

She nodded, and pulled out her sketchbook. She flipped through a few pages until coming across the page she needed, and then ripped it out. This was when she utilized her true power, her dimensional manipulation. She slammed the paper into the ground, and immediately the ground around them glowed as a seal was created.

"Behold!" she shouted, "The Order of A Thousand Knights!"

As she said that, a thousand knights in silver armor wielding long-swords rose from within the seal and charged at the heartless, ripping them to shreds with their blades. After they had all cleared the seal, she picked her short-sword back up and began attacking the heartless along with her smaller army. Xealx smirked as he fired off air blades from his halberd.

Through all the chaos, the Fateful kept fighting, but it was a losing battle even for them. They were being overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers. A strange noise caught everyone's attention though, and they looked up to find the source of it. What they saw was odd, yet welcome.

Out of no where, a huge red toad leaped down from the air and landed in the mass of heartless, flattening hundreds of the black creatures. Next a red wave of energy flew through their ranks, slicing through even more, then a huge lightning strike that exceeded even Elkxyse's exploded into the ground, and then finally, a series of explosions and gunshots could be heard throughout the battlefield.

Now everyone's gaze turned to the top of the plateau. There stood Xelskyr with Urahara, Jiraiya, and Iroh next to him, and in the air the Boeotia could be seen firing off its massive payload of weapons.

"Hey sis!" Xelskyr called to Elkxyse, "Where's Tevesix, I need him for something!"

"He's on the southern cliff with Rhcxis covering our rear flank!" she answered.

"Thanks!"

He turned to the three older men.

"Thank you three again for the help, I wish I could stay, but I've got something I need to tend to elsewhere."

Jiariya waved off the comment. "Go do your thing kid, we can handle everything here."

"Yeah," said Urahara, "I could use some excitement for a change!"

Xelskyr nodded. "I'll see you all later then."

With that, he was gone in a flash, leaving the three elder men to their own devices. Iroh turned to face Urahara and Jiraiya.

"Well gentlemen, shall we dance?"

The other two smirked and nodded, and then they too were gone in a flash, going to join the battle below.

* * *

At the southern cliff, Tevesix sat cross-legged, chanting his spells, controlling his undead minions as they combated the heartless. Rhcxis was below, swiping them away with his gravitational manipulation, and was protected by a few spirit wards that the necromancer nobody had placed on him.

His ears perked when he heard someone behind him and looked up from his chanting to see their leader standing over him.

"Xelskyr, what do you need?" he asked.

"Tevesix, do you have enough energy for an Organization summon?"

He nodded. "I will have to dispel a lot of my spirits, but I think I can."

"Good, get me Axel; I'll need him."

"Right."

Tevesix began to chant a different spell, glowing with a green aura while doing it. Soon Xelskyr could see the green blob of ectoplasm taking shape into the lanky body of Axel. When his body was formed and finished, Tevesix began the chant that would grant him free will, making both their bodies glow in a blue aura this time.

After the aura, the three of them were silent until Axel suddenly grabbed his head and groaned like he had a hangover.

"Oh damn, I really hate that."

"Axel," said Xelskyr, "we need to get moving, we have a job to do."

The redheaded nobody looked up and straightened himself out.

"What kind of job are we talking about here?"

"We need to save Roxas and Hikari."

His expression changed to surprise, and he grabbed Xelskyr's shoulders, shaking him a bit. "Well why didn't ya say so sooner, let's get our asses moving man!"

"Right, right, hold on a second."

He held out his hand and formed a corridor, but this one radiated a bit more darkness than usual, and both Axel and Tevesix could feel it.

"Where exactly are we going?" asked Axel.

"Kingdom Hearts, and if not, then damn close to it," he replied before stepping through.

Axel pinched the bridge between his eyes and sighed. "Kingdom Hearts...why does it always have to be Kingdom Hearts? Why can't someone be happy with ruling one world, why try to rule the whole universe?"

He sighed again as he stepped through the corridor.

"Fuck you Kingdom Hearts."

* * *

Roxas was now in a pain filled daze, his vision was blurring, his shoulders were burning, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could take this. The waves sliding against the shore and the slight breeze were the only noises in the area, other than that, it was dead silent. He wasn't exactly sure how long he'd been stuck here, but it was well over ten minutes, of that he was sure.

He tried to move, but his only reward was sharp pain throughout his upper body. The blades were stuck deep in the rock and had completely pierced his shoulders. He could probably remove the blades and get free if he wanted to, but the pain it would cause him would probably cause him to lose consciousness as soon as he hit the sand, so that didn't so much for him in the long run.

He looked up lazily when he heard footsteps coming down to the beach. As his vision re-focused, he saw Kysrel walking merrily as he dragged Namine by her right arm. When he finally reached the rock which Roxas was impaled to, he threw his younger sister to the grown and summoned his blade.

Namine didn't seem to notice, and instead rushed to Roxas, tears streaming down her face.

"Roxas! Roxas!"

He heard her screaming his name, but couldn't find the strength to answer her. He watched in silent horror as Kysrel raised his blade behind Namine and prepared to thrust it into her small body.

"One down," Kysrel muttered as he continued to raise his blade.

As his keyblade reached its arc, a sudden buzzing sound pierced the air, and before anyone, including Kysrel knew it, the dark keyblader was on his bad clutching a bleeding cheek.

"Ya know, I didn't think it was possible, but you seem to have an even bigger knack for bad luck than your dad," said a new voice, a voice Roxas was quite familiar with.

A moment later, the eighth member of Organization XIII, The Flurry of Dancing Flames, Axel landed in front of Namine after catching his chakram in midair. Almost directly after he landed, Xelskyr appeared in a flash next to Roxas. He looked up at Roxas and smiled.

"Long time no see kid."

Roxas tried to reply, but was interupted as he felt both the keyblades that had impaled him disappear, and he fell to the ground. He coughed and tried to push himself up, but his muscles and tendons were shot, he wasn't going anywhere.

"Don't worry Roxas, we'll handle everything from here on out; Axel, get Namine and Roxas out of danger," Xelskyr ordered.

"What are you gonna do?"

Xelskyr threw off his cloak, once again revealing his black sleeveless shirt and pants, then drew his keyblade. He glared at Kysrel, who was now duel wielding Oathbreaker along with his own keyblade.

"I'm gonna hold him off. Now get going!"

The redhead nodded and outstretched his palm to create a dark corridor, or at least he tried to. He tried twice more, but couldn't get one to stabilize, and became frustrated.

"What the hell is wrong!?" he shouted as he shook his hand around like it was the problem.

Kysrel started chuckling as he approached the group. "You can't create a corridor because I don't wish it. This is my realm you foolish nobody, did you really think you could just intrude then leave? You'll stay here and die like everyone else."

'_Crap! I won't be able to take him one-on-one while we're here! We're fucked unless we come up with something fast!'_

* * *

Meanwhile, out in inter-space, Sora and Riku along with Hikari and her team were making their way to the Void Zone. Riku had estimated it would take him almost an hour to calibrate and modify the hyper-drive for what they were going to do, but thanks to Hikari's experiences on the _Boeotia_, Naruto's shadow clones, and Aangs bending, they were able to cut that time in more than half. All in all, the job only took a little over twenty minutes.

"Okay everyone," said Riku, "we're here, this is the Void Zone."

Everyone looked out the view port to see a swirling vortex of white and gray, sucking in the surrounding space like a whirlpool.

"We're going into that thing!?" shouted Naruto nervously.

Riku nodded, "You got it, now everyone buckle up or hang onto something, this is gonna get bumpy really fast."

Everyone did as directed; Naruto and Aang too the nearest seats and strapped themselves in, Ichigo and Matt wrapped their arms around a guard-rail, and Hikari gripped the back of her dad's seat.

"Here we go everyone!" shouted Sora

Just as was predicted, the ship began shaking violently. Naruto and Aang were bopping around in their seats, Ichigo and Matt were shaken up a bit, but remained standing, and Hikari was almost thrown straight across the room.

Riku began counting down. "Making the jump in 3...2...1!"

Suddenly there was an even brighter flash of light; the ship stopped shaking for a moment, then restarted. The air outside the ship had gotten darker and blacker, giving Hikari reason to believe they'd pulled it off.

"Hold on, this is going to be an improvised landing!" shouted Sora.

"What do you mean by that!?" asked Hikari.

"He means that we have a good chance of hitting the ground as a flaming molten pile of metal!" shouted Riku.

She gave him an angry look as they plummeted towards the earth.

"You're not inspiring much confidence!"

"Brace for impact!" said Sora over their bickering.

There was a bigger shaking sensation, then everything in Hikari's world went black. The last thing she remembered was a sharp and throbbing pain in her forehead before she lost consciousness.

**

* * *

**

**And badda-bing, badda-boom, we're done. Like it? Dislike it? Did you even care?**

**Just leave a review and tell me what you thought of it.**

**See ya!  
**


	31. Chapter 29: The Keys of Armageddon

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 29

**The Keys of Armageddon**

**Disclaimer: **Why do I even do this anymore?

Okay guys, I'm back! Now don't throw rocks or anything at me for the long wait, because I have a valid excuse: I procrastinated!

It's my most marketable skill, I'd be robbing the world of a gift if I didn't utilize it by...I don't know; waiting to finish a Geography report on Switzerland until the last possible day, or neglecting to do the homework that had been mentioned in class at least two dozen times. That sort of thing; it's just my little way of giving back.

...You guys are still pissed aren't you.

Well anyway, here you go. Yell at me once you're done.

* * *

_**"We have had our last chance...Armageddon will be at our door."** - Gen. Douglas MacArthur _

XXXXXXXX

Hikari groaned as she regained consciousness, she was being carried by someone. She looked up to see her dad lugging her over his shoulder as he carried his keyblade in his other hand. Everyone else was up and ready.

"Dad…dad you can put me down, I'm okay," she grumbled.

He looked down and nodded. As her feet touched the ground, she wobbled a bit but remained standing. She shook her head and regained her bearings; she looked around to try and find anyone else besides their group. The Gummi ship was totaled, and they'd just made it out of the crash site.

Suddenly something else crashed nearby, and kicked up a plume of smoke and sand. They watched as a disoriented Xelskyr wobbled out of the crater, looking a little worse for wear. He looked over and greeted them dizzily.

"Oh, hey there Hikari, good timing," he said with a dizzy voice.

"Xelskyr, what's going on!?"

He coughed and rubbed his head.

"Oh, you know, getting my ass kicked by my Somebody, getting Roxas out of trouble, the usual."

"Where are my kids!?" shouted Sora

Xelskyr pointed over to the left in the distance.

"They're taking cover over there, now if you'll excuse me; I have a fight to get back to."

With that, he jumped into the air and flew straight for Kysrel, who was floating in the air with a smug expression. As the sound of clashing metal and shouts of insults once again filled the air, the group headed off in the direction Xelskyr had pointed them in. They reached the rock and rounded the corner to see Roxas leaning against a rock with blood dribbling out of his wounded shoulders, barely conscious. Axel was right next to him, looking over the rock and observing the battle, and Namine was latched onto Roxas like an anchor.

"Namine, Roxas!" said Sora joyously.

Namine looked up with her first truly happy expression in a long time; Roxas turned his head as best he could and moaned.

"Daddy!" the small girl squealed as she jumped at him.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here. Where have the years gone?"

Both Sora and Riku looked over to see Axel now facing them, shocking them both; Hikari never mentioned Axel at all.

"Axel!? What are you doing here!?"

He shrugged. "Not really my choice to be here, but what can I say, Roxas grew on me. I was wondering when you'd show up."

"I mean how are you alive!? You died!"

He shrugged. "One of those Fateful guys can resurrect the spirits of dead Nobodies, so here I am. You shouldn't be concerned with me right now though, Roxas is in pretty bad shape and I don't know how to heal."

Sora looked down at his son and noticed the twin stab wounds in his shoulders. He jolted into action and summoned his keyblade, casting a curaga spell and mending the wounds. Roxas felt the warm magic fill his injuries and reforming his muscles and flesh. When the spell ended, Roxas could freely use his arms again, but in his opinion it didn't do much good. He had lost his keyblade, which meant he wasn't really much help right now.

"Roxas, what happened?" he heard Hikari ask.

He looked up at her; she was kneeling next to him with a hand on his shoulder. He looked back down in shame.

"He was playing me from the start…he stole my keyblade."

Everyone was shocked by the news; it was nearly impossible to _steal_ a keyblade, it was usually completely bonded to its wielder.

"How did he do that, what did he do!?" Hikari asked in a more desperate tone.

"Even though my keyblade is a Twilight keyblade, he gave it attributes of a dark keyblade when he infused me with dark powers, so he was able to control it. He was only letting me use it to trick me into thinking I was in control," he replied sullenly.

The girl gritted her teeth and clenched her fist, then stood up quickly and summoned her keyblade. She was about to leap out and join the battle when Roxas caught her by her wrist and held her in place. She looked down at him and he was giving her a serious look.

"Hikari…don't; he wants you to join the fight, you're the last piece to the puzzle."

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, you're all that he needs now to open Kingdom Hearts, that battle is nothing but a trap."

Sora stepped forward. "No one can open Kingdom Hearts anymore Roxas, you know that."

He shook his head. "He found a way dad, and he's already more than halfway to completing his plans since he has my keyblade. Hikari's is all he needs now; you need to get out of here now, get somewhere safe."

"No chance in hell!" shouted Naruto.

Roxas looked over and saw figures he'd missed before; Naruto, Ichigo, Matt, and Aang were all standing there. At first he was confused as to how they had gotten here, but guessed that Hikari must have had something to do with it.

"I didn't come all this way to save you only to run off and hide. You're my friend, and if you're in a fight then I'm damn sure gonna be a part of it!" the blond shouted.

He looked to Ichigo and Matt.

"You better believe I'm staying, Kysrel and I have unsettled business," said Ichigo.

"I couldn't live with myself if I walked away from this. You guys need all the help you can get, so I'm sticking around to," agreed Matt.

Lastly he looked at Aang.

He shrugged. "It's the avatar's duty to guard the world and keep it in balance. As far as I can tell, this guy is going to start throwing that balance out of order, so it's my job and duty to stay here and fight."

He smiled and sighed.

"Fine, but Hikari, I still need you to get away. If something were to happen, he would be able to unlock Kingdom Hearts. That's not a risk we can take."

She shook her head violently.

"No, we're going to take him out together!"

Roxas looked around, and it became obvious he wasn't going to win this argument. He smiled and nodded, then stood up wearily. "Fine, we'll all do this together. Kysrel is distracted, so Axel, you should be able to create a corridor to escape in, take Namine and make sure she's safe."

He nodded and extended his hand. Sure enough, he was able to form a stable corridor this time. With that, Namine gave Roxas, Sora, and Hikari one last hug then took Axel's hand and they escaped through the portal.

Roxas turned toward the battle being raged farther down the beach; Xelskyr wasn't fairing too well on his own.

"Alright guys, let's take him down."

Sora, Hikari, and Riku summoned their keyblades, Naruto took out two kunai, Matt entered bankai as did Ichigo along with activating his mask, and Aang revealed his staff. Roxas, who was as of now weaponless, stuck to just charging his hands with as much dark energy as he could manage.

"Let's go!" Roxas shouted as he charged forward.

He surprised everyone with his sudden burst of intense speed, then his amazing leap into the air. He flew straight for Kysrel, who had just parried away one of Xelskyr's attacks. The dark keyblade master blocked the punch with the broad side of his keyblade, and was then surprised as the boy suddenly used a burst of speed and disappeared completely. Roxas re-appeared suddenly behind Kysrel, and to his shock, landed a kick to the back of his head, sending him rocketing down to the ground.

He followed him down at full speed, aiming right for the plume of sand and smoke. Kysrel wasn't so easily pacified though, and came leaping out of the smoke to meet him in mid-air. Roxas shuttered as he felt the cold metal of his keyblade slice through his left cheek, leaving a shallow cut. Kysrel then turned about in the air and came at him with both keyblades he was wielding. Roxas couldn't move in time and was prepared to take the hit.

Out of nowhere though, an orange and yellow blur came into Kysrel's vision, and before he knew it, something slammed into his face, blowing him higher into the air. Roxas looked up a little to see Naruto in his three tailed form, holding a rasengan in each hand. The demon container flew up higher in the air in persuit of Kysrel and attempted to slam a rasengan into him. He countered it with Oathbreaker, staving off the rasengan in his right hand, but his left handed rasengan came under his arm, forcing Kysrel to block it with his other keyblade.

He became confused though, when Naruto suddenly started smirking, and then disappeared. Though two voices from directly behind him gave him the answer he was seeking.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

"Sanctus Incendia!"

His eyes widened as he felt the dense spiritual attacks slam into his back. He crashed down to the earth again, but didn't stay down long. He rose with a grin on his face and even giggled a little.

He looked over to his right where he saw Aang and Hikari rushing him. Hikari jumped into the air, and Aang followed her. Aang used his air-bending and gave Hikari a boost as she flew at Kysrel like a human missile. He sidestepped, barely dodging, and smiled widely as he grabbed her ankle, spun her around, and tossed her into Aang, sending the two of them crashing across the beach.

He jumped into the air and floated there, observing the battlefield. Everyone was accounted for except his original combatant, Xelskyr. His Nobody quickly revealed himself however, as he flew into the air with his keyblade in hand, ready to strike. At the same time, Roxas appeared behind him, raising both his fists. He acted quickly and blocked Xelskyr's attack with Oathbreaker while he countered Roxas with his own keyblade.

Both their attacks were strong, but he blocked and repelled them. He did a 360 degree rotation and threw both of them out of the way. Now that he was free, he turned his attention to his prize; Hikari. He flew down to the beach once more and found her and Aang recovering; he was about to land right in front of her and gain the advantage when he heard a cry of rage. Out of no where, a silver blur appeared in front of Hikari, and he felt a blow to his stomach like he'd never felt before. He was blown clear out into the ocean with a single blow.

When he surfaced from the waters, he saw his attacker. Riku brought down the Way to Dawn down on Kysrel, which he blocked with Oathbreaker. The force of the blow was incredible, he almost broke his arm just trying to keep a grip on his keyblade. He flew higher into the air and landed again, standing on the sandy beach. It was quiet for a moment as he watched Riku, and now Sora making their way to face him. He was absolutely jubilant with the thought that he could face them; the thought that he might die didn't even cross him mind.

"It's an honor to meet you both," he said in a cocky tone.

"Shut up," spat Sora venomously.

"How rude, I had expected better manners from two men of so distinguished deeds."

His eyes narrowed. "If you don't stop talking right now, then I'm going to take your tongue away from you."

Kysrel took the threat in stride and laughed. "Now I see where Roxas got all that lip from."

Riku looked over at Sora and he looked back.

"Session?" asked Riku.

Sora nodded. "Session."

Kysrel was calm at first, but didn't realize just exactly what that meant until he saw the two of them disappear in a blur of ultra-fast movement. They pair appeared again right in front of them, and began a mad flurry of joint sword techniques. Kysrel pushed his reflexes and intuition to their limit trying to parry and deflect the amount of attacks that were being thrown at him so fast.

Just when he thought the attack was over, the changed their attack pattern, switching to high speed stabs and thrusts. Kysrel wasn't ready for the sudden change in motion, and felt over a dozen wounds suddenly bite into his torso and arms. He slid back and recoiled in pain, but still remained ready to battle.

When he looked up again, he saw that their keyblades were now melded into one giant blade. The attack was much slower and he managed to roll under it. He now saw and opening and leaped at them with both keyblades. The opening was just as instantly closed however, and thirteen blades matieralized out of no where and spun around on an axis like a power saw. The blades sliced up his chest and abdomen, and he hit the ground leaking blood violently.

He rolled on his side and stumbled up, dispelling Oathbreaker and wielding only his original keyblade; his left hand was clutching his deeper wounds on his chest. He cursed under his breath when he saw them charging another attack. He ran at them to try an close the distance, only to have a barrage of dark energy blasts explode form their hands. He sliced through the first few, but somewhere along the way his momentum was broken and a blast struck him, then another and another, and soon he was being hit by all of them.

He flew farther across the beach, landing in a heap of scorched mess, blood, bruises, and broken bones. Somewhere he still found the strength to stand again. As Sora and Riku charged the final step of their joint attack, Sora looked at the boy in front of him. The way he acted, talked, stood, even fought, you would never know he was only sixteen. For his age, the skill he had with a blade was incredible. If he'd had faced him back when he was still fighting the Organization, he would have stood no chance; Xemnas would have been a cakewalk compared to him.

As it was though, both he and Riku were twenty years wiser and stronger; Kysrel for all his talent and cunning, was simply outclassed.

"Prepare to lose it all!" shouted Riku.

With that cry, their keyblades separated from them and took positions on either side of him; the Kingdom Key glowing a bright gold, and Riku's glowing a dark purplish-black. Kysrel's eyes widened in surprise and frustration as the two polar opposite energies collided, causing a massive overload of power, resulting in an earth shattering explosion. The energy discharge was short, but large and violent; Sora doubted even Kysrel could have survived that attack.

After the attack died away, only smoke and sand remained to obscure their view. Xelskyr, as well as Hikari and Roxas and the rest of the group stood with Sora and Riku.

"I think he's gone this time," said Hikari.

"I doubt it, he's survived worse. I'll go and check; if he's still alive, I'll finish him."

As it was, Xelskyr didn't even take one step before he heard that familiar yet equally sickening laugh from his Somebody. He narrowed his eyes, staring intently, waiting for him to make a move. When the dust and smoke cleared away, Kysrel looked horrible. His face was utterly smeared with his own blood, his coat was completely gone and his pant legs were actually on fire in some places, every pore in his body seemed to be oozing blood. The fact that he was alive was nothing short of a miracle; a very unwelcome miracle.

"Is that all you have!? Pathetic!" he shouted.

"Is he serious; look at him, he's practically the walking dead," commented Matt.

"That's just how he is," said Xelskyr, "He won't stop; I doubt he can even feel the pain anymore. He's too far gone to be helped, the years of darkness eroding his mind has destroyed any humanity he used to have."

"Then I'll just put him out of his misery!" shouted Hikari.

Roxas' eyes widened in fear as Hikari shot past everyone with her keyblade in hand. That fear was only doubled when he saw the smirk on Kysrel's face.

"Hikari, get back here!" shouted Xelskyr, seeming to understand what was happening as well.

Both of them ran after her, hopefully they would catch her before she got too close. Hikari meanwhile was pulling back her keyblade, running toward Kysrel intending to ram the blade right through that cold, dead rock he called a heart. As she made one last leap towards him and thrust forward her keyblade, things just seemed to slow down for a second, and it was as if Roxas was watching the world in slow motion.

Kysrel snapped his fingers and leaned to the side at the last minute, dodging Hikari's attack completely, but that wasn't what made Roxas fearful. It was the fact that he had just summoned Kingdom Hearts that really made him worried.

Everyone watched in horror as the white, chained doors of Kingdom Hearts rose up from the ground and appeared in front of Hikari. Kysrel had timed it perfectly as the Threshold of Light slid directly into one of the two keyholes of Kingdom Heart's locks. He acted quickly and dashed back at her, slamming his foot into the side of her head, knocking her away from the doors and down the length of the shores of the beach.

He summoned Oathbreaker and inserted it into the same keyhole as Threshold of Light, the moved to the other side of the doors. He looked back at Xelskyr and Roxas, who were now trying desperately to reach him and possibly stop him from doing what they knew he was about to do. He smirked; all that he had hoped for was about to be realized.

"And so the shackles were broken, and the gates of Armageddon opened once more," he muttered to himself.

Without a seconds more hesitation; he inserted his keyblade into the other lock.

* * *

**Just like that, BOOM, we have another cliffhanger! **

**You guys are probably mad at me for that, but oh well, I can't make everyone happy. I'm really happy about that last line of dialog, it just seemed so ominous when I wrote it, and I thought the chapter should end on a dramatic note. **

**We are ridiculously close to the end of this story; I can almost taste it, and it tastes like victory with a hint of nutmeg!  
**

**Feel free to review and tell me what you thought.**


	32. Chapter 30: Let's End This

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 30

**Let's End This  
**

**Disclaimer: **Nope...nope

Okay, before I say anything, let me apologize for my long absence. I've been busy lately and writers block didn't help. I'm back though, so no more waiting.

You're probably not even bothering to read this, so I'll just shut up and let you read.

* * *

The group watched in horror as the chains and shackles that once bound Kingdom Hearts fell to the ground and faded away. Kysrel wore a crazed smile as the white doors rumbled and began to slide open. The opening discharge of power threw Roxas and Xelskyr onto their backs and back to the rest of the group, leaving Kysrel unopposed as he turned to fully open Kingdom Hearts.

Sora bent down next to his son and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Roxas, we might still have a chance. Remember, Kingdom Hearts is light, I don't think he'll be expecting that," said Sora.

"Don't count on it," said Xelskyr, "He's had over two years to plan this all out, and on top of that, he's an evil genius; I seriously doubt he'd be unprepared for something like that."

Just then, a gleaming light hit the dark realm, stinging everyone's eyes. They all looked on at Kysrel, who despite the fact that the light was literally burning his skin, was standing tall against it. He stared into it for a few moments before extending his right hand and summoning his keyblade.

"Xelskyr!" he called out, "I don't believe I've ever asked you before, but do you know my keyblades special ability?"

The nobody remained silent, and Kysrel chuckled.

"I suppose you don't then…well then let me ask you this, how many heartless do you think I've slain?"

"I…I can't say for sure, I would estimate somewhere in the high thousands."

Kysrel chuckled again, "Correct; you see, my keyblade has the unique ability to siphon the power from every heartless, or nobody, it slays. I have the equivalent of a horde of heartless stored within my keyblade, and add onto that the power of the two Fateful members, then I have quite a collection."

"What are you getting at!?" demanded Xelskyr.

"What I'm getting at Xelskyr, is that my keyblade is not called The Dark Corruption for nothing," he said, turning his towards them with his crazed smile.

As he said that, his keyblade began to glow in a dark aura, covering itself in mounds of darkness; the power radiating off of it was so sickening and dense that it made everyone in the group feel nauseous. Still, they watched him as he pulled back his hand, and threw his keyblade into the bowels of Kingdom Hearts.

For a few moments it was quiet, nothing moved, no one breathed, Kysrel was even silent. Then suddenly, the light from Kingdom Hearts disappeared, and in its place, a torrent of darkness rushed out, nearly knocking everyone, even Kysrel, over. In this rush of blackness, The Dark Corruption came flying out of Kingdom Hearts, and Kysrel caught it in his right hand. It was now empty and drained of all its stored power, ready to accept all that Kingdom Hearts had to offer.

He lowered the blade and concentrated all his will, all his power into it, drawing forth the flowing darkness like a whirlpool in the ocean. The now dark power of Kingdom Hearts was attracted to the keyblade like a magnet and began being absorbed as it flowed out. Kysrel began laughing wildly as he felt his strength increase with every second of absorbing the corrupt power.

Everyone stood awestruck at what was happening before them. They all wanted nothing more than to rush in and stop him from what he was doing, but knew that with that much darkness flying everywhere, it would most likely kill them before they get anywhere close to him. All they could do was watch as the bane of life itself was being spoon-fed a source of infinite power.

After almost two minutes of constant laughter and overwhelming darkness, Kingdom Hearts closed its doors and disappeared. Still, the burnette stood motionless on the shores of the beach, staring out into the water. Slowly, he raised his keyblade and pointed it at the sky. A small and narrow purple beam shot out, then disappeared into the sky. For a moment, all was silent, then out of no where, the moon that overlooked the dark world exploded into giant fragments.

Roxas stared in disbelief, what hope did they have against that?

"He just...he just blew up a moon...with just that little thing," he stammered.

After observing his handiwork, he turned to face the small team of opponents; they all took in his new appearance. His keyblade still looked the same, but _he_ was a different story. He had long jagged black tattoo's racing all across his body which seemed to be leaking dark energy by the gallons, and his eyes had become pupil-less and black. His hair was still brown and short, but it seemed to stand up more, like he had been electrically shocked. He wore his usual grin that gave away the fact that he was completely mentally insane.

"Well this _will_ be fun," he said.

His voice had even changed. His voice was the most dominant, but behind it they could hear countless voices; it was like thousands of voices were repeating whatever he was saying. There were all sorts, they could hear the voices of children and the elderly, of men and women, of teenagers and young adults, some didn't even sound human. It sent chills up their spines, even Xelskyr, who technically couldn't even feel fear.

The way he was now, he seemed to be the epitome of evil. A man with a cruel sword, black eyes, an insane smile, and dark tattoo's standing in front of a black sea and a still shattering moon that slowly gave way to the darkness.

Kysrel sighed, but with a laugh.

"It's been fun playing with you all, but now that I have my toys, it's best I go. I have a lot of worlds to burn to oblivion you know. A shame you refused to join in my fun Roxas, but oh well, more for me," then his smile grew more malicious, "In fact, that reminds me, I have a splendid idea of where to start my slaughter."

Roxas widened his eyes in fear and rushed to stop him, but Kysrel disappeared in a flash of darkness and left nothing but wisps of blackness in his wake.

"No!" he shouted as Kysrel disappeared.

Roxas fell to his knees, banging his fist against the sand. Kysrel was unstoppable now, there was nothing anyone could do. He couldn't believe it; six months of torture and anxiety had just been shot down in a few minutes. Everything had fallen apart because of him, everything was on his shoulders.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! This isn't how it was supposed to go, I'm such an idiot!" he shouted.

"What are you blaming yourself for?" said a weak voice.

Roxas looked up and to his right to see Hikari limping over to him. She looked just as guilty and depressed as he was and felt. He sighed and sat down, trying to hold back the tears.

"He outsmarted me at every turn. I thought I had the upper hand all this time, but he had me in checkmate the entire time. I was a fool for not seeing it coming...it's my fault," he muttered.

He gave a bitter laugh, and a cough, before taking a seat next to him.

"Then I guess you weren't looking when I pulled the stupidest stunt of the millennium. If this is anyone's fault, it's mine. We were winning, but I got overconfident; I screwed everything up."

"Hey," shouted Xelskyr behind them, "what the hell is wrong with you two!?"

They both looked up at him with confused looks. He sighed and shook his head while pinching the bridge between his eyes.

"You idiots; get off your sorry asses and quit feeling sorry for yourselves, we have a maniac to dice up!"

"You're the idiot," retorted Roxas angrily, "did you see what he just did; how the fuck to we fight him now!?"

He put a hand up and calmed the both of them down.

"Don't worry, we'll have help. Besides, if worst comes to worst, I've still got an ace in the hole, something guaranteed to take him down no matter how strong he is, and he'll never see it coming. I'd prefer not to use it, it has some pretty nasty...drawbacks, but I'll be willing to use it on him if push comes to shove," he said, finishing the sentence with a far off look.

He suddenly clapped his hands together, and turned to the rest of the group.

"Alright everybody, let's move! We've got a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in; Destiny Island is definitely his first target, so let's get our asses in gear!"

Everyone gave a determined nod and got themselves ready as Xelskyr opened a corridor to Destiny Island. They all filed through onto the other side except for Roxas, Hikari, and Xelskyr. The nobody looked at them expectantly, and Hikari made a few steps forward before Roxas grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"Go on ahead Xelskyr, we'll catch up in a sec."

He shrugged but complied and exited the dark world through the corridor, leaving open for them. Once he was gone, Roxas turned his attention back to Hikari.

"So, what do you want?" she asked.

He scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Uh...well, I was thinking. Just in case something happens...to either of us, I just wanted you to know that, for a while now...I kinda...no, I really..."

She growled and grabbed ahold of his coats collar.

"Just shut up," she ordered before pressing her lips against his. For a moment he thought he was going to fall over, both from the force and from the simple fact that she was _actually_ kissing him. After a second, the situation sunk in, and he relaxed wrapping his arms around her waist. Hikari settled down as well and released her grip on his collar, and instead slid her hands onto his shoulders.

Nearly a minute later, they hesitantly broke it off, but still latched into each other for dear life. The two of them stood in silence, simply staring each other in the eyes as the last of the moon's fragments fell under the horizon, leaving them in almost complete darkness.

"Well...that was different," said Roxas suddenly.

"Yeah well..." she trailed off, not really sure of what to say.

Another brief silence fell over them before they finally let go of each other.

"Are you ready?" asked Roxas.

Hikari nodded.

"It's now or never; we have to end this, if not for us, then for the rest of the universe," she said.

He smiled and looked into the swirling dark corridor, and took Hikari's hand.

"Back to the grind," he muttered as they both stepped through.

* * *

Needless to say, this was one of the worst days Axel had had on record. Not only did he have to jump straight into the realm of darkness to save Sora's kids, but now he was stuck babysitting his daughter; and during a massive heartless invasion no less. Out of no where, these hordes of heartless just popped out of nothingness and now he was running for dear life with a seven year old girl freaking out under his left arm as he cleared his path with his right chakram.

He was running randomly through the streets as he had no idea how to navigate this place, he'd only been to Destiny Island once after all, and not only had that been twenty or so years ago, but it wasn't exactly for the most...constructive, of purposes. Still, he would be damned...again, if he was gonna let some mindless heartless get its mitts in the small girl he was lugging around. She might have been a bit of a burden, but hell, he didn't need a heart to think she was probably the cutest damn kid in the universe.

He rounded a corner quickly, only to hit a dead end road and a brick wall. He cursed loudly as he turned around and saw the mass of heartless making their way after the two of them. He set the kid down near the wall and summoned his left chakram. He set up a wall of fire between her and him, cutting him and the heartless off from her.

"You want the kid," he shouted, "then you're gonna have to beat ol' Axel first! Got the name memorized?"

The heartless didn't even seem to register that he had said anything, and kept trudging forward. Axel growled and his chakrams began spinning violently.

"I'll take that as a yes!" he yelled as he dashed forward, his chakrams at the ready.

He sliced his way through the first ten or so with ease, his fire was more than a match for the small black neophytes. But, as the saying goes, there is strength in numbers, and the red headed nobody soon found himself fighting an uphill battle as he was quickly surrounded. No matter how many he obliterated, twice that number always jumped in to took their place.

He ground his teeth together as the heartless ripped at him with their shark claws. He sent out a wide fire wave that gave him some breathing room as well as wiping out a good several dozen heartless. With room to maneuver, he pumped all the energy he could spare into his legs and jumped high into the air, back-flipping over the heartless and his own wall of fire, landing next to Namine.

He grabbed ahold of the girl again and used the last of his spare power to feed the wall of fire, which was still waning. The heartless still couldn't get through, but that would change soon enough.

"Well damn, I must be pretty awful at this 'good guy' stuff. Can't even protect a kid," he muttered to himself with a bitter chuckle.

He pushed Namine behind him as he grabbed his chakrams in his hands. He didn't have the strength to summon any more fire, but even alone the red and white weapons were dangerous. He just had doubts as to how long he would last.

"At least I'll go down swinging, as always," he sighed.

He was about to rush into the fray again when a high pitched whistle pierced the air and suddenly one of the heartless was destroyed. Occupying its place was a flower-ish keyblade embedded in the ground.

Axel looked up in confusion, and saw a woman standing atop the building to his left. She had aburn hair and was wearing grey cargo pants and a green sleeveless shirt. It took him a moment, but he soon realized who he was looking at.

"Kairi!? Well look at that, the last twenty years were good to you!"

She looked down at him, but she didn't seem very surprised.

"Hello again Axel, I guess you could use some help. You know I'm still a little sore about that kidnapping thing all those years back, but looking at how big of a help you've been, and the fact that you've been protecting my little princess, I'll give you a hand," she said with a smirk.

He smirked back, twenty years obviously changed her attitude a bit as well.

"Well how very kind of you," he said sarcastically.

With that, she jumped down in front of them and summoned her keyblade back to her. With blinding speed and power, she practically danced through the heartless, slicing them away with ease. Axel watched her, impressed at how much stronger she'd gotten; she was obviously beyond him now.

After five or so minutes of fighting, the last of the mob of heartless were destroyed, and she took a breather before walking back up to the two of them. Namine instantly broke off from Axel and leaped into Kairi's arms.

"Mommy!"

Kairi held her daughter close as she picked her up and stood in front of Axel. He smiled stupidly as he sat on the ground and leaned against the wall.

"Well, I guess twenty years did more than make you taller," he joked, "and to think my last memory of you was a helpless fifteen year old girl whining about seeing Sora."

"Hm, well smart remarks aside, where is Roxas? I haven't seen him in six months, please tell me you know where he is. Hikari said that he was being held captive by Kysrel with Namine. If she's free, that must mean that he is to right? So where is he?" she said, desperation leaking into her voice and eyes.

Axel ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"I saw him just a few minutes ago; he's alright, more or less. He, Hikari, Sora, Riku, and a few of their friends are fighting Kysrel, or at least they were. I'd say since there are so many heartless around that he probably got away and decided to try and take this place out. I'd bet anything that everyone is on their way back here."

She nodded sullenly, but seemed to accept it.

"Trust me Kairi, he'll be fine. There's a lot of Sora in him, no way he's going down easily, and he's got help. You go help out, I'll get the kid to safety."

She smiled a bit.

"Thank you."

She set Namine down and looked at her seriously.

"Now Namine, I want you to be a good girl and go with mommy's friend, he'll take care of you. Do whatever he says and whatever happens, stay with him."

She nodded her head nervously and walked back to Axel. Kairi however eyed the red headed nobody as he stood back up with the girl under his arm.

"I'm counting on you Axel; if you screw this up, there will be consequences. I don't care if you are already dead, it won't end well for you," she threatened.

He smiled nervously.

"Don't worry your pretty little head Kairi, the kids kind of grown on me. I'll make sure she's safe, so you go on and do your keyblade thing."

With that, he ran off down the street, seeming to have recovered a bit of energy. Kairi sighed nervously; she didn't like handing off her baby girl to someone like Axel, but he did seem to have changed from what she remembered of him. Somehow she believed he really would do all in his power to protect her.

Pushing away her fear for now, she leaped off. she had a lot of heartless to destroy, and it wasn't going to be a walk in the park.

* * *

Meanwhile, Roxas and the rest of the group looked on at the destruction being dealt to Destiny Island. There were heartless _everywhere_, and several of the buildings were partially destroyed. Even through all the chaos though, Roxas could clearly sense Kysrel somewhere in that mess, all he had to do was follow the darkness.

"Looks like we've got a lot of work ahead of us," said Hikari.

Roxas nodded.

He had thrown away his Organization cloak the second they were on the other side of the corridor, revealing the clothing he had underneath. A white and black jacket, a grey shirt, white pants, and white and black checkered sneakers.

Xelskyr walked up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on everybody," he said, "let's end this."

**

* * *

**

**The final battle is coming; it's on our doorstep people!**

**Once again I aplogize for my long absence; I'm trying not to make a habit out of it, but like I said, writers block is a monster.** **I promise to get the rest of the chapters out in a timely fashion if I have my way. That's not always the case, but I'll try my best.**

**Review and yell at me, I deserve it.**


	33. Chapter 31: Our Last Stand

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 31

**Our Last Stand**

Hey guys, contrary to popular belief, I'm NOT dead! Sorry about all these sloppy release dates, I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, I hope I can once again grovel for your forgiveness.

Still, I'll be damned if I don't at least finish the story. Speaking of finishing, the next chapter will probably be the last one. Yeah, you heard right, the story is close to being officially over. Just the epic conclusion and fate of Kysrel, then the epilogue to tie up a few loose ends, and then it'll be finished. I'm debating on whether or not to actually go through with the prequel I had originally wanted to put out for this story.

In case you forgot what it entails, it's basically a chronicle of Kysrel before he became the huge cock-bag you're currently hating, it's just giving you some insight on him, and explain how a few characters from the story knew him from the past, whether they remember him or not. (if you remember, he was especially acquainted with Ichigo.) I'll probably do it anyway just to fill in some plot holes, but I'd still like your opinions anyway, so throw a PM my way with your opinions.

Anyway, let's stop wasting time and get to the story at hand.

* * *

The small group of heroes ran towards the besieged town at breakneck speeds. As far as anyone knew, the only people here capable of any effective resistance against the heartless were Kairi, Axel, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. The latter three had begged Sora and Riku to teach them to fight after the duo had returned, and over the years, they'd each become quite a force to be reckoned with. Nothing on a keyblade masters level, but definitely more than any heartless could handle.

This however, was a rare exception. As far as any of them could see, there were thousands of heartless literally crawling everywhere. Sora hadn't seen this large of a convergence of heartless since the Organizations offensive against Radiant Garden.

As they rushed downhill, Roxas looked over to Xelskyr.

"So, what's the plan? Kysrel is all but immortal and invincible now, so how do we fight him, especially with all these heartless around?" he asked.

"Don't worry; I said I have an ace in the hole. I guarantee Kysrel won't see the end of today, at least not in one piece. The way things are looking, there's no way we'll be able to fight him alone with all these heartless around, so here's what we're gonna do; Naruto, Ichigo, Matt, and Aang will create a perimeter and hold the heartless off; Sora, Riku, Roxas, and Hikari, you'll be with me, we'll confront Kysrel together."

Hikari looked at him with her mouth ajar, as did Roxas.

"Are you crazy?" she shouted, "we couldn't take him down in his _normal _state, how are just three of us going to kill him in his…God mode!?"

Xelskyr growled in annoyance.

"I was getting to that. You two just keep him busy long enough for me to do what I need to do. Do whatever you have to; get him off on one of his rants, fight him, I don't care, as long as you don't die. Once there's an opening, I'll take over."

Nobody really seemed convinced, but once again, Xelskyr seemed to be the only one will a complete grasp of what was going on. No one could really argue though, seeing as how Xelskyr was Kysrel's nobody, and therefore knew how the crazed keyblade master's mind worked.

The groups attention was diverted from the town though, when they heard a high pitched buzzing sound coming from above them. They all looked up to see odd looking aircraft jetting through the skies.

"Damn, the heartless brought their ships too; now they've got air support, just great!" yelled Roxas.

Then a new sound rang out though; a loud bang. Soon after, one of the heartless ships exploded in a fiery shower of debris. A few seconds later, bangs identical to the first exploded in mass quantity, and soon heartless aircraft were being blown out of the sky in mass numbers, crashing into the water and ground like flies.

After observing the spectacle for a few moments, their aerial savior was revealed to be none other than the _Boeotia_. The frigate lowered itself until it hovered over the town, guns blazing as the last of the heartless ships were swept away by its smaller quad-turrets.

The group was now entering the town when the ship above them did something unexpected; it launched ships. As far as they could see, there were only three ships. Two seemed to be gummi ships, and the last one they recognized as the Cypher. The gummi ships went down and landed in the town, while the Cypher made a strafing run down the street they were running down, clearing out the mass of heartless that had previously been in front of them, then flew over and landed near the town square. The _Boeotia_ was kept busy as more heartless ships came down from the clouds; they were holding them off, but the majority of their weapons were now focused on the air.

The group ran down the street until they reached the town square, the epicenter of all the chaos. In a matter of seconds they were swarmed by the mass of heartless occupying the area. Everyone got ready to hold their ground, but the attacks they were expecting never came. Instead the heartless were engulfed in a combination of a massive lightning spell, and a shield flying about slicing through their frontal ranks.

Suddenly a swath was cut in the mass of heartless, and five new figures stood side by side with the original group in the now temporarily cleared out square. Sora and Riku looked over to see a small mouse with huge ears and a golden keyblade, a dog with floppy ears and a shield in his hand, and a short duck with a wizards staff.

"Donald, Goofy, your majesty!" exclaimed Sora happily.

"Hey Sora, Riku! did ya miss us?" said Goofy with a thumbs up.

"We heard you guys were in trouble, so we hurried right over!" proclaimed Donald.

"You guys sure look like you could use the help," said the king.

Even in the dire situation, Sora still managed to chuckle a little at seeing his old friends. Donald hadn't changed much; the only difference was his voice we a bit raspier, and his robes were slightly longer. Goofy had some grey hairs here and there, but his throwing arm was still in top shape. The king had changed the least though; he still wore his red combat clothes, and looked as though he hadn't aged a day, though there were a few bags under his eyes, indicating he'd been under quite some stress as of late.

"Hey, what about us?" demanded another voice.

They all looked over at the other two figures. Roxas smiled when he saw Rhys and Julia standing a little off to the side, both in light battle armor and gripping plasma pistols.

"Hey Rhys, I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" exclaimed Roxas.

The mercenary captain looked over at him with a smile.

"Hey kid, lookin' good, about time you showed up again," he joked.

"It's good to see you back Roxas," said Julia, a bit more serious.

"How'd you get the Cypher back?" asked Hikari.

Rhys glared at her for a moment, but seemed to let it go.

"Before we came here, we stopped at Twilight Town and grabbed it. I figured we'd need it, and I guess I was right. If you ever steal my ship again though, I'm gonna start shooting at you!"

The silver haired girl smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. Partially from Rhys, but also from the look she was getting from her dad that said _'We'll be talking about that later'_.

While the king, along with Donald and Goofy were explaining how Rhys had stopped to bring them along with him to Destiny Island, Xelskyr approached the captain with questions of his own.

"So, did everything work out back at the base?" asked the nobody.

Rhys sighed and scratched his head awkwardly.

"Well...yes and no."

He looked at the captain with a look of confusion on his face.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"See...it went like this..."

_Flashback_

_The battle continued to rage on and around the Fateful XIII headquarters. The Fateful were beginning to tire, and the heartless didn't seem to have an end in sight. Even with the reinforcements from the Boeotia, and the help from some of their off-world contacts, the battle wasn't going well. Xealx saw this and radioed Rhys, who was giving areal support from the Cypher._

'Things aren't looking good down here Rhys, we may have to abandon the base!' shouted Xealx over his headset.

_The captain nodded from inside the cockpit_.

_"Yeah, I can see that. Look I don't know where the hell Xelskyr went, but if you're going to retreat, we should regroup at Destiny Island. It's not too far for the Boeotia, and it has a few unoccupied islands where we could set up a temporary HQ," he suggested._

_He waited for a moment, then Xealx's voice crackled back onto the radio._

'Agreed, I'm initiating the base's self destruct protocol now. We have way too much research and navigational data to let kysrel get his hands on it in the off-chance he survives. Xelskyr is probably confronting him right now, but we can't take any chances. If he were to make it out of that fight alive and his heartless got their hands on this base, it would be disastrous._'_

_"Right, I'll stay in the air and cover you while you get everything set, good luck."_

_End Flashback_

"After that, the radio died," he explained.

Xelskyr stood there and nodded. His base was gone, but at least everyone had made it back alive...right?

"Everyone made it though right?" he questioned.

Again, Rhys sighed and Xelskyr eyed him more intensely.

"Rhys..." he said, almost angrily.

"We lost Axnes," he said without missing a beat.

_Flashback_

_Rhys sat in his captains chair on the bridge of the Boeotia with Julia by his side and the remaining members of the Fateful XIII scattered around the room. It hadn't taken the captain long to realize they were one man down, and immediately questioned who was missing. Xealx explained what had happened after the radio died._

_"A number of heartless made it into the base and began destroying our electircal lines; the self-destruct was disabled," he explained._

_Rhys raised an eyebrow in curiosity._

_"If that's true, then how did you destroy the base?" asked Julia_

_Xealx looked away slightly, but continued his explanation._

_"A few days before this attack, part of Axnes's upgrades to the base was a secondary explosive network in case the primary self destruct failed. We were lucky he installed it when he did."_

_Rhys sighed, he still wasn't getting the whole picture here._

_"So you still haven't explained to me exactly what happened to him," he pried with a hint of frustration in his voice. _

_"It was a new system Rhys...he hadn't had time to finish installing the proper detonation programs yet," he explained, almost gloomily._

_Rhys paused for a moment, realizing what Axnes had done._

_"So he stayed behind and..." started Julia._

_"...detonated the charges himself, yes," finished Xealx._

_Rhys nodded slightly, took a deep breath, and tried to push the thoughts out of his mind. He was still captain, and he still had a job to do._

_"Right, well we still need to get back to Destiny Island. We'll be jumping to hyperspace in three..." he said, suddenly interrupted by a voice over the intercom._

_"Uh, captain," came the voice of Casper, "we have a BIG problem."_

_"What's that Casper?" he asked, not really in the mood for more drama._

_"Destiny island has just come under attack, I'm reading thousands of heartless signatures all across the grid, it's a mess sir!"_

_Rhys clenched his fists and growled, this just wasn't his day._

_"Aright, kick this tub into high gear! Everyone, full battle stations, I wanna be able to open up on those heartless bastards the second we drop out over their world!" he shouted._

_He was answered with a simultaneous and resounding, "Aye aye, sir!"_

_End Flashback_

Xelskyr sighed again.

"Damn idiot, he always did want to go down a hero," the nobody muttered.

He took in a deep breath and let it out, surveying the three other new members of the group. He turned back to Rhys.

"So how did you pick those ships up, I saw more than just the Cypher get launched?" he asked next.

"Well it was just a little while after we jumped into hyperspace after picking up the Cypher from Twilight Town..."

_Flashback(again)_

_The Boeotia flew through the void of space at full speed, making haste towards the besieged world of Destiny Island. It's crew was ready, its weapons were primed, and every contingency planned for; all was quiet. Rhys leaned forward in his chair, feeling a swell of anxiety as he thought about the relatively defenseless world under claws of the heartless. Julia was down in the hanger prepping the Cypher for combat, and Casper was monitoring the sensor readying coming from the Islands. This sudden attack could only mean one thing; Kysrel had what he had been looking for and was making his move. _

_He was brought out of his thoughts though, when his communications operator turned in his chair and called to him._

_"What is it?" he asked._

_"We're picking up distress call. As far as I can tell, there are two relatively small ships, and judging by their current trajectory, they're en-route to Destiny Island as well."_

_Rhys thought about it for a moment. Two small ships en-route to Destiny Island could be important; if they were heading there, then they must already know about the attack and be heading there to help. He did remember Hikari mentioning some family friends from Radiant Garden, and a few from some castle somewhere. It could very well be them. It might have been a little out of their way, but if they were who he thought they were, they could definitely use their help._

_"Drop us out of hyperspace at their coordinates and get ready to unload on whatever's out there," he ordered._

_"Aye, sir!" responded the crew. _

_Moments later, the bright lights of hyperspace faded from the main view-port of the bridge, and was replaced by the much darker vacuum of space. A short distance away, (for the Boeotia anyway), a battle was raging. Two small ships were struggling against a swarm of heartless ships._

_"Hail them and tell them to retreat towards us, then open fire on the heartless," he instructed._

_A few seconds later, the communications operator nodded._

_"Affirmative sir, they're backing off," he reported._

_"Good. Leto!" he called._

_Suddenly the holographic avatar of the ships AI fizzled into the bridge._

_"Yo, what's up?" she asked cheerfully._

_"Get me some firing solutions on those ships coming towards us. I want them as accurate as possible, we need to conserve ammunition if we want to be any help at Destiny Island."_

_She nodded and closed her eyes for but a moment._

_"All done."_

_Rhys turned to the weapons operator._

_"Open fire," he ordered._

_Just like that, the space in front of the Boeotia was set ablaze as the swarm of heartless vessels that rocketed towards them were blown away, the close range quad barrel cannons ripping apart the smaller and frail ships. In a matter of two short minutes, the space in front of them was cleared completely of enemies. Rhys leaned back in his seat with a satisfied smirk._

_"What's the status of those two smaller ships?" he asked suddenly._

_"They've received only minor damage and are requesting permission to dock," replied Leto._

_Rhys nodded._

_"Permission granted. Once they're docked, resume our previous course at full speed," he said as he rose and left the bridge to meet their guests._

_End Flashback_

"After that, they explained everything and then we got here. It looks like just in time too, this place isn't looking too good," he commented, looking around the square.

"It's had better days," replied Roxas.

"Who all is here?" asked Sora.

The three turned to see the elder keyblade master finished with his own conversation and now ready to get things moving again.

"Pretty much everybody. The whole Radient Garden crew showed up, obviously the king and his group, and the remaining Fateful are...somewhere, they used corridors to get down here, so God knows where they are. Iroh, Urahara, and Jiariya are with Axel and Namine; her bio-signature was coming from an offshore island, so I sent them there to keep the two of them secure. Axel was pretty much getting swarmed when we showed up, and those three were the first to volunteer." replied Rhys.

Xelskyr nodded and took a few steps forward.

"Right, we'll still stick to the original plan; Sora, Riku, Roxas and Hikari are still with me, but so will the king. Donald and Goofy can help create a perimeter around our fight along with the rest of you. Rhys, I want you and Julia to get back to the Cypher and round up everyone you can and tell them to get here to the square," ordered Xelskyr.

Rhys nodded.

"I'll get right on it," he said as he turned and ran back to his ship.

"Good luck everyone, we'll be back with the cavalry!" called Julia as they departed.

One the Cypher was airborne once more, they larger group was about to keep moving, but were stopped when another huge swarm of heartless grouped around them, cutting off all escape from the square. They all stood in a circle, staring down the huge army, ready to tear their way through the horde.

Just as it looked like they were going to strike, an all too familiar chuckle pierced the air, seemingly coming from all directions. Xelskyr clenched his teeth, waiting for his somebody to show himself.

Kysrel slowly floated downward from high above, and landed on top of a partially collapsed building, looking down on all of his opponents.

"Well, you're putting up much more of a fight than I anticipated, I commend your efforts. However completely meaningless they may be," he stated arrogantly.

He jumped down from the structure and lightly floated down again to the concrete ground. As he walked, he still seemed to leak darkness from every pour, pulsating with an aura of malice.

"As much as I appreciate you all being here, I have some revenge to begin dealing out first, and unfortunately, that takes priority over the rest of you," he said, his hands building up a massive spike of energy.

He smacked his hands together above his head, and slowly created a perfect orb that increased in size exponentially. They all watched in fearing curiosity as the orb grew into the size of a house at least, but still Kysrel fed power into it. It continued to grow larger until its size was equal to that of a small office building.

Once it was finished, he let it go. It slowly fell to the ground, and engulfed him until he was out of sight. For a few moments, they all stared in confusion as the monstrous sphere lay there in the middle of the square, inactive.

Then suddenly, the wind began to pick up, sucking everyone in towards the orb. Despite all their best efforts, no one could hold up against the winds power, and they were all flung into the air. Xelskyr was the first to come in contact with it, and merely slipped inside it like Kysrel did. Then Sora and Riku collided with it, but instead of just entering it as the nobody had, the two crashed into it like it was something solid.

This trend continued until Roxas and Hikari were thrown forth, and they to simple melded into the sphere. The winds then died down, and the remainder of the group recovered, wondering just what had happened. They didn't have much time to ponder it however, as the heartless took this particular moment to assault them, attacking in mass.

Whatever had happened, they would have to figure it out after they finished their own battle.

* * *

Inside the sphere that Kysrel had created, it was a different story all together. Things were eirily quiet, and only the four keyblade masters stood in its entire circumference. Roxas stood up slowly, his head pounding from the sudden and violent movement, and took in his surroundings. It was dark, but at the same time, he could see perfectly. It was seemed larger on the inside than it did on the outside, but other than that, there wasn't much to look at.

Hikari and Xelskyr stood soon after he did and the three of them faced toward the dark keyblade master. He had his usual confident and arrogant sneer on his face, just waiting for the three of them to make a move.

"Good, you weren't too shaken up by the transition. I would hate to battle dreary opponents," he said mockingly.

Xelskyr stepped between the two younger teens and stared his somebody down intensely.

"Where are we, what did you do?" he asked in a demanding tone.

Kysrel crossed his arms and smirked.

"Just a little arena of my own design. No way in or out unless I wish it; hense the others of your pathetic rabble being left outside to fend for their miserable lives. Enough of the formalities though, I believe we should get down to business," he said, summoning the Dark Corruption and Oathbreaker.

Roxas winced at the sight of his keyblade. Kysrel noticed his glare and taunted him with it by swinging it in his general direction.

"What's the matter Roxas, do you miss your keyblade?" he mocked.

"Yeah I do, and if you don't mind, I'll be taking it back now," he said with a confidence in his voice that neither Hikari nor Xelskyr had heard in his voice for a long time.

Ksyrel however, didn't seem quite as moved.

"If you want it Roxas," he said, holding it out, "then come and take it."

Roxas smirked back at him.

"Gladly!" he shouted as he raced forward at full speed.

The master of Kingdom Hearts just looked at him with a mix of usual arrogance, and slight anticipation. He moved Oathbreaker back and slashed out at the brunette at impossibly fast speeds as soon as he was in range. To his surprise and Roxas' utter delight, the blow never even came close to connecting.

Roxas stood victoriously with a smirk on his face, now a few feet behind Kysrel, hefting Oathbreaker over his shoulder. Kysrel looked down at his now empty left hand, and laughed a bit, at both the fact that Roxas had regained his keyblade from him, and also that he had been able to slice open a very small portion of his left side. Barely enough to even feel, but Kysrel even admitted that it was impressive.

"Impressive Roxas, it seems for the moment, you heart has overtaken even my darkness. I always knew you would be a prodogy, I just wish I didn't have to kill you," he said with fake regret.

"Shut up Kysrel. I don't care how much power you've got. I'm not afraid of you; not anymore."

He looked over his shoulder with a wide grin.

"Really..." he said before suddenly disappearing in a flicker of movement.

"...then we'll just have to fix that," he said in a slithering voice, coming directly from behind Roxas.

His eyes widened as he heard the whistle of air being displaced by Kysrel's blade, and could do nothing to dodge. Before the attack could connect however, the keyblade was stopped. Roxas looked behind him to see Xelskyr holding Dark Corruption with two bloody hands, while Hikari had Threshold of Light pointed at Kysrel's neck.

"Hn, you've all improved, I'm glad to see that. I was worried this might be boring," said Kysrel, keeping his high and mighty exterior solid.

His body then began to pulsate with insane amounts of dark energy, and he fired off a pulse wave, blowing the trio back away, and freeing himself. As the three of them stood once more, Kysrel pointed his own keyblade out at the other wielders and smirked.

"Come...let the true games begin."

* * *

**Okay, I know you guys are probably pissed because I left it at that. Hopefully that little taste of combat will wet your whistle for a bit while I finish up the final chapter(s). I'm debating on whether to just divide the last chapter into two seperate ones, because right now its looking pretty damn long. I don't know, but we'll see where things go.**

**I bet you're all wondering what Xelskyr's "Ace in the hole" is. Well...I'm not telling. If I did, I'd pretty much ruin the entire ending, and you don't want that do you? **

**...DO YOU?**

**didn't think so.**

**Before I forget though, I'd like to thank hermitgenius who just recently started reading the series and has reviewed just about every damn chapter. Good on ya!**

**Anyway, go ahead and review and stuff.**


	34. Chapter 32: Endgame

The Fateful XIII

Chapter 32

**Endgame**

Whats up all?

I've been having some computer trouble as of late. I recently had some major Ad-ware problems and it made it really hard to write with all those damn pop-ups everywhere. The problem is solved now, but I probably would have had this done earlier if it hadn't been there in the first place.

Anyway, in case you didn't get the message from the chapter title, this is the last chapter of the story. Everything comes to an end in this chapter. Don't start rioting just yet though, there will be an epilogue after this that will finish up everything else, then after that, I'm gonna start up Fateful XIII: Rewind, the prequel that I've been yammering about since forever.

No matter though, the point is that the chapter is done, so go ahead and enjoy the last official installment of The Fateful XIII.

* * *

**"The hour of departure has arrived and we go our ways; I to die, and you to live..."** -_Socrates, Greek philosopher of Athens _

* * *

As one, Roxas, Xelskyr, and Hikari charged Kysrel; the dark keyblader stood firm and thrust his own blade forward. In one twist of his keyblade, he was able to block all three other keyblades, and then repel their wielders. It was then his turn to go on the offensive, so he charged forward, bypassing Roxas and Hikari all together and heading straight for Xelskyr.

The nobody was quick to react and blocked Kysrel. The force of the blow and the speeds at which Kysrel attacked alone were enough to force Xelskyr back, losing ground by leaps and bounds until he was pinned against the edge of their darkness encased arena. His somebody pushed him harder and harder into the wall, the dark energy burning his back and turning his skin raw.

Suddenly Kysrel flipped his keyblade over his shoulder and blocked a strike from Roxas as he attempted to capitalize on his attention being on Xelskyr alone. He lifted his right leg and kicked his nobody in the stomach, then twisted to the side, knocking Roxas' keyblade away from him and slicing into his upper right shoulder before landing on both feet a few meters away.

He turned to his left and his keyblade then clashed with Hikari's. The female keyblader made three quick strikes, all of which were repelled, then changed her strategy by trying to kick Kysrel's legs out from under him. He merely jumped over the low attack, front flipping over her and landing with his back to her. Without even looking, he kicked his right foot backwards and connected with the back of the girls head, sending her flying.

By this time, Roxas had recovered from the blow to his shoulder and was attacking Kysrel again. He began with a vertical slash which Kysrel simply knocked to the side, and responded with a horizontal attack, which Roxas barely ducked under in time, then a vertical slash, which Roxas had to use both hands to defend against. The younger keyblader jumped back a bit, retreating as Hikari jumped over him and attacked their opponent from the air.

Again the attack was knocked away, and Hikari was knocked back into the air. As she flew backwards, she threw her keyblade, which barely missed Kysrel as he sidestepped. He didn't notice however, that Roxas was behind him, and had caught the Threshold of Light in his free hand.

Roxas attacked with Hikari's blade, which Kysrel easily blocked, then stabbed at him with Oathbreaker, aiming to pierce his head. With a quick turn on his neck, Kysrel had dodged the blade and used his free hand to grab Roxas' wrist and flip him off his feet and onto his back. Kysrel thrust downward in an attempt to stab Roxas in the chest, but he was able to bring up both keyblades in and 'X' formation and block the tip of the blade before it reached his chest.

The teen quickly rolled away and tossed the Threshold of Light back to Hikari, who caught it and quickly entered a battle ready stance. Kysrel was ready to attack them again, but stopped when he noticed his shadow was growing larger in front of him. He turned around only to be met with one of Xelskyr's Nova Fist attacks in the face. The beam of bright orange and yellow plasma exploded on impact, forcing Roxas and Hikari to raise their blades to block out the dust and debris.

The Roxas and Hikari watched in a mixture of awe and horror as the dust cleared. Kysrel stood erect as he always did, completely unharmed by an attack that, by all means, should have sent him flying across the room. The dark keyblade master used his free hand to brush away some dust on his shoulder and sighed.

"After all this time...is this all you have? This is no fun at all," he said, actually sounding bored.

He began to glow in a dark aura, and his power was skyrocketing. His keyblade started glowing red and the buildup of energy seemed to be concentrated in that area.

"Oh well, I suppose I'll at least honor you with a flashy death," he said, pointing his blade directly at Roxas.

His eyes widened as he watched a small beam fire from the tip of the Dark Corruption. There was nothing he could do to get out of the way, it was coming at him too fast and all he could do was watch. Just when he thought he was done for, he felt something push him out of the way as he fell to the ground. He flipped onto his side and saw Xelskyr being pushed back as the beam collided with the broad side of his own keyblade.

Xelskyr gritted his teeth and dug his feet into the ground, trying desperately to finally stop and hopefully deflect the attack. He was able to accomplish the first part of his task, and finally slid to a stop, and now he worked on diverting the beam.

His luck though, seemed to have run out there. He eyed his keyblade nervously as he saw the near indestructible metal begin to crack and chip away under the strain. He cursed under his breath and thought frantically of a way to get out of this.

Unfortunately, it was all too little too late, and right before his eyes, his keyblade shattered. He made a desperate move and tried to twist out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough and the beam slammed into his right side. The resulting explosion blew him across the remainder of the room and into the 'wall'.

Roxas and Hikari rushed towards the crash site, navigating the thick, kicked up smoke and dust. As it began to settle, they could see easier, and saw the rough outline of the keyblade wielding nobody. When they arrived though, they were shocked at what they found.

Xelskyr laid there against the wall, his keyblade shattered in two, shards laying all around the ground. That wasn't what the two teens were looking at though. They were a bit more engrossed in the fact that Xelskyr's entire right arm had been completely blown off. There wasn't even a stub of the original limb, it was just...gone.

He groaned loudly as he regain consciousness from his short unconscious state. He attempted to stand, using the left hand to prop himself up and support his body weight. Roxas quickly reached over and helped support him as well.

"X-Xelskyr," stuttered Hikari, "your...your arm, its..."

He nodded.

"Yeah, I noticed," he said as he leaned against the wall, still sucking in air, trying in vain to ignore the pain.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Roxas, "we were getting our asses kicked before, and now you're out of commission. How are we gonna win without you?"

Even though the pain of losing his arm, he was still able to laugh.

"Who said I was out of commission, I still intend on finishing this fight."

"What're you talking about, your right arm is _gone._ How do you plan on fighting him?" protested Hikari.

"Don't worry," he said, waving off her worried comment, "for what I plan on doing, I don't need my arms. Just keep him busy a little longer, I'll take care of everything else after that. All I want you two to do is get to a safe distance after I've done what I need to do. It'll most likely be a hell of a bang."

Neither of them looked very convinced, but decided to trust him; after all, he _still _seemed to be the only person with the complete picture of what was going on.

Roxas and Hikari begrudgingly left Xelskyr to lean against the wall while they ran off to further distract Kysrel. Xelskyr stood there for a while and watched them go, not believing that just a little less than seven months ago, those two were just whiny, naive teenagers who had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

He almost laughed at how much they'd grown.

'_heh, those two are alright...I think I'm actually gonna miss 'em.'_

* * *

Outside the spherical arena that Kysrel had created, the battle raged in the Destiny Island town square. Rhys had returned with the Radiant Garden crew. Cloud, Tifa, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid had all shown up. Cloud, Tifa, and Leon were all off fighting as a group, while Yuffie and Aerith were providing ranged support and the occasional healing spell respectively. Cid however, was getting on in years, and wasn't really up to snuff for up close fighting anymore, but he was still one hell of a pilot, so Rhys had -after a lot of convincing- lent him the Cypher.

The Fateful had shown up as well, fighting individually near their preferred environment. Nevax was taking care of all the aquatic based heartless by creating a mass of dragons made entirely of ice as he rode them around the ocean surrounding the island, slicing up all who dared oppose him. Ranxao was using the abundance of palm tree's to his advantage, and soon had an army of tropical ents to command. Venxdi, Xealx, Ahexcilm, and Hyrxs were all in the middle of the mess, ripping through the heartless with their own unique set of attacks. Tevesix had gone off to support Axel, seeing as the red haired nobody was one of his summons anyway.

Meanwhile; Ichigo, Naruto, and Aang stood back to back, almost completely surrounded on all sides by heartless.

"Well, looks like we're backed into a corner, any idea's guys?" asked Ichigo.

He heard Naruto snicker behind him.

"What's the matter Ichigo, getting scared?" he teased.

"Me? Pfft, not a chance Uzumaki, I'm more worried about baldy over there," he said, leaning his head over in Aang's direction.

Aang jumped in on the friendly banter.

"Heh, that's funny, I was about to say the same thing about you two."

"Well, all jokes aside, does anybody have any idea's?" asked Ichigo again.

Naruto shrugged.

"I say we just kill as many of these bastards as possible until Roxas and Hikari finish up. They're bound to be done eventually, so lets just have fun while it lasts," suggested Naruto.

"Hey, sounds good to me, but what say we make it a little more interesting?"

"What do you mean?" asked Aang.

"How about last guy to five hundred pays for lunch?" said Naruto.

"Fine with me," agreed Ichigo.

"Me to," nodded Aang.

"Right, then on the count of three," said Naruto, getting ready to count down, "One...Two...THREE!"

With that, the three charged out in three separate directions and began ripping through the heartless with renewed vigor. Unknown to them, on the other side of Kysrel's construct, Rhys, Julia, and Matt were having a similar conversation in a similar position.

"So it's agreed then, the one with the most kills by the time Roxas, Hikari, and Xelskyr get outta there is the winner," said Rhys.

"Sounds pretty good to me," agreed Matt.

Rhys laughed.

"You sure you're up for this kid, I mean me and Julia have been doin' this sort of thing for a while now."

"I wouldn't underestimate him Rhys, remember, you saw how good Roxas and Hikari are, and they're no older than he is," said Julia.

Matt grinned.

"Yeah, listen to the lady. I'll be fine, you just worry about yourself; I can't guarantee I'll be able to save your ass if you get in over your head."

"Jeez, cocky little bastard," Rhys muttered as the three of them ran off to fight as well. All of them; the Fateful, the crew of Boeotia, and the heroes of Light, both old and young fought for their lives and the lives of all their loved ones. None of them could fail because failure here meant the end of everything they ever cared about; failure here meant the end of all things.

* * *

Roxas and Hikari were knocked back for the fourth time. The duo had been attacking from every angle, and still every time, Kysrel had beaten them back. Roxas recovered from the counter-attack first and went on the offensive again. He attacked with a horizontal slash, which Kysrel deflected with almost no effort. He followed up with two attacks, one was a vertical attack in a downward motion, the second followed the first almost immedeatly and was a horizonal slash; the first attack Kysrel leaned out of the way from, and the second was deflected, and Oathbreaker was knocked from his hand.

While Roxas reached out to try and catch his wayward sword, Kysrel thrust his blade forward and very nearly pierced it through the boys chest. At the last second however, Hikari rejoined the battle and blocked Kysrel's attack while Roxas recovered his keyblade and they were able to double team him once more.

The pair jumped back, creating distance between them and the fallen keyblade master. Roxas looked over his shoulder at Xelskyr, who was still pretty much slumped over against the wall.

"Yo, Xel! A little help would be much appreciated!" shouted Roxas.

The one armed nobody looked up groggily.

"Ah shut up! Just gimme another minute to recover; hold up a little longer!"

Roxas growled in frustration, but never the less, rushed forward with Hikari to continue to fight Kysrel. Xelskyr looked on at the battle and winced at how bad it was going. Roxas and Hikari both had several flesh wounds across their torso and arms. He also noticed Roxas' movements were getting a bit sluggish, suggesting he may have a concussion.

The nobody looked down at his missing limb and sighed. He had been planing on ending the fight much earlier than this, but the fact that he had saved Roxas from that beam and lost his arm and his keyblade, he didn't have the energy on hand at that moment to do what he'd been planing to do. Though he could feel that he was close to what he needed now. All he needed was to get close; once he was within arms reach, he could finish this.

'_Alright Xelskyr, man up! Let's just get this thing over with_,' he thought to himself.

He gritted his teeth and pushed up with his remaining left arm. Pain immediately rocketed though his body as his open wound was agitated by the movement. He almost fell again, but dug his fingers into the wall and held himself up. After a minute or so, he was on his feet. He slowly trudged further into the arena with a bit of a limp.

Roxas and Hikari looked over and saw the nobody finally on the move, and jumped back and landed at his sides. They both looked to him for instructions.

"What's the game plan Xelskyr?" asked Hikari.

"Just cover me while I get in close. This has got to work, I've only got enough energy for one burst of speed and one more Nova Fist. After that, I'm out," he warned them.

They both nodded and crouched down into identical fighting stances. Xelskyr began the countdown.

"Ready...set...GO!" he shouted.

Immediately, Roxas and Hikari shot forward, followed shortly by Xelskyr, who hung back slighly behind the two. He summoned his last Nova Fist in his left hand.

Kysrel watched the three charging forward like lemmings off a cliff, and smirked. He pumped a frightening amount of darkness into his free hand and fired forth a swarm of dark energy blasts. Roxas and Hikari moved to defend Xelskyr's advance and began deflecting them in a mad rush of slashes and swings. The second they were clear, Xelskyr picked up his speed and ran straight past the other two keyblade wielders. Kysrel swung his blade horizontally in a wide arc, and a wave of dark energy flew forward at the dark keybladers nobody.

Xelskyr, despite his burning legs, jumped and front-flipped over the attack, and while he was upside-down in the air, fired his Nova Fist into the ground, causing it to explode and rocket him higher into the air, coming down right at Kysrel. The nobody roared as he fell in decent, his fist raised, ready to strike his opponent.

At the same time, Kysrel thrust his keyblade up into the air. Roxas and Hikari watched it all in slow motion as Xelskyr literally fell into the blade, and was pierced through the stomach. Xelskyr let out a few sickening gurgles as blood was pouring out his mouth; his arms began shaking as he raised them and grabbed ahold of Kysrel's arm. His breathing became strained and shallow, and his eyes bulged until it seemed they would pop out of their sockets.

Kysrel smirked at his nobody's suffering.

"That was a foolish attack Xelskyr, I expected better from you. Still, I'll enjoy it all the same as I watch you die," he said, almost letting a giggle of excitement sneak in.

His smile disappeared as he heard Xelskyr mumble something, but couldn't quite catch it.

"What was it that you said?" he asked suspiciously.

He looked up at him, wearing a confident smirk of his own.

"I said...I wouldn't worry...about m-me. It's all...a-according to...p-plan," he said as he suddenly began to fade, not into nothingness, but into Kysrel's keyblade.

Kysrel was confused for once, but soon forgot about it when a sharp pain began to slice into his mind. He grabbed onto his head with his free hand as he screamed out in pain; breathing heavily as the agony only increased.

"What...WHAT DID YOU DO!?" he shouted in rage.

Xelskyr chuckled weakly as he continued to be absorbed by the keyblade.

"Funny thing...about d-darkness. I-its pretty...strong...u-until light is...t-thrown into t-the...mix," he stuttered out between coughs and sharp breaths.

"WHAT ARE YOU YAMMERING ABOUT YOU FOOL!?" he roared with a sensation that his head was being ripped in half.

"Isn't it obvious," came Roxas' voice.

Kysrel looked over at the brunette with an enraged face.

"Your keyblades ability is to absorb the power of those it kills, and Xelskyr is the container of the last fragments of your heart that ever held any light. Now that he's dying, that power is being absorbed by your keyblade, and light is being funneled into your heart again. With the amount of darkness coursing though it, that light is going to slowly de-stabilize it, and if I'm right, this is all going to end in one hell of a bang. His plan all along was to be killed by your keyblade; he wanted you to kill him," explained Roxas, wearing a confident smirk on his face, when in reality, the full weight of the situation was sinking in; Xelskyr was dying, and Kysrel was now a ticking time bomb.

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" screamed Ksyrel.

No one really ever figured out what he was planning to do next, because as soon as he finished that sentence, his body began to bulge outwards and twist in ways that made the two younger keyblade masters stomachs turn. He writhed in pain and dropped his keyblade, and Xelskyr fell to the ground in a heap, though he did manage to roll onto his side and yell out one word; "RUN!"

They didn't need any more incentive than that. The two teens turned tail and ran like they were on fire, and a chill ran up their spines when they heard a scream of rage filled with bloodlust. They looked over their shoulders and saw the disfigured form of Kysrel regaining his composure and running after them. Before he could get very far though, he fell over when Xelskyr grabbed onto his leg.

He continued to scream out in anger even after he fell over, and began to try and claw his way forward. Xelskyr however, just sighed as he almost felt pity for his psychopathic somebody.

"Jeez...what a sore loser..." he muttered.

He looked over at the other end of the arena as Roxas and Hikari used their keyblades to force open the wall of the sphere. Once they were clear, he let go of Kysrel's leg; he wouldn't last more than a few more seconds anyway. Once free, Kysrel charged forward in vain, while Xelskyr just continued to lay on the ground, the Dark Corruption still piercing his stomach.

"...at least I can die with some dignity," he said, closing his eyes.

He waited a few seconds, then the screaming stopped. There was no bang or loud noises; on the contrary, it got very quiet. For a while he wasn't sure what was going on, all he knew was he couldn't really feel..._anything_. All the feeling in his body left him, and it seemed as though he was just floating.

For the first time since...well, the beginning of his existence he guessed, he felt something. He felt...peace.

* * *

Roxas and Hikari had just rolled to a stop after they jumped out of Kysrel's dark spherical arena. They quickly rushed back onto their feet, completely disregarding the heartless that were surrounding them. Everyone who was fighting looked over at them as they ran like they had seen a ghost. The ones nearest them were about to ask for an explanation, but were cut off when they both shouted out the same thing at the same time; "GET DOWN AND COVER YOUR ASS!"

The message only served to confuse them even more, but when they saw the dark sphere in the middle of the square begin to fluctuate and bulge out, they got the basic gist of their meaning and began scrambling away and trying to find cover.

The two teens looked over their shoulders at the sphere, and were blinded by a bright flash as it was blown apart. The light grew and grew and both of them knew they weren't going to be able to outrun the obvious explosion. They reached the end of the street they were running down and jumped though the shattered window of a damaged shop, rolling under the counter and hitting the wall on the other side.

As the explosion rolled towards them, Roxas wrapped his arms around Hikari and held her tightly; both of them closing their eyes tightly and praying they would survive as the explosion rampaged down across the island, and finally collided with the store.

**

* * *

BOOM! Cliffhanger, HAHA!**

**Too bad guys, you're going to have to wait for the epilogue to see what else happens. You guys are probably pissed, but come on, I've gotta keep _some_ surprises for the epilogue.**

**Until then, see ya 'round.**


	35. Epilogue: Final Goodbyes

The Fateful XIII

Epilogue

**Final Goodbyes**

**Disclaimer:** For the last and final time, I don't own Kingdom Hearts...so sad.

I won't say much up here, but I've got a final A/N down at the bottom, so please take the time to read it. Just go ahead and read the Epilogue to my longest story so far.

_(By the by, I apologize for any spelling mistakes and such, it was pretty late when I finished it. Still, I fixed as many as I could find, so enjoy.)_

* * *

Opening his eyes, Roxas felt a huge wave of disorientation wash over him. For a few moments, he couldn't even remember where he was or what his name was, but after a second or two it came rushing back to him. He remembered everything; Kysrel and Xelskyr were both dead, and they had won. He shook his head to shake off the last bit of grogginess and looked over to his side.

Hikari was still on the ground unconscious. He scooted over to her and grasped her shoulder, lightly shaking her awake while calling her name. A few moments later he got a response and the girl began to stir, groaning and reaching to rub her forehead.

"Ow…Roxas, are we finally done now?" she asked, still groaning.

Roxas looked around; the building they had been in was all but rubble now, and everything had a dusted over, musky feeling and sent to it. The town square was completely gone, engulfed in a gigantic crater, and the rest of the town, save the city limits and outlying farmlands was badly damaged. The trees that remained standing were either burnt to a crisp, or were burning with small fires on their leaves.

"Yeah," he said weakly, "I think it's finally over with. Come on, let's go find our parents."

She nodded slowly and got up slowly with Roxas' aid. The two supported each others weight as they escaped the destroyed shop, and walked down the damaged streets. All was silent until the two heard another groan from underneath a collapsed brick wall, then watched as it was shattered open, and out emerged Riku.

"Oh…I'm definitely gonna feel that in the morning," he said, clutching the back of his head.

"Dad!" exclaimed Hikari.

Riku looked up to see his daughter standing a few feet away, being supported by Roxas.

"Hey you two," he said, dusting off his clothes, "not that I wasn't impressed by the presentation, but next time to take down an evil overlord, could you do without the giant city sized explosion?"

"Complain all you want Riku, but the fact is that explosion could have been way bigger," said a new voice.

The three looked over and saw Sora standing a little ways away, using Kingdom Key as a cane to support his weight. Roxas smiled and was about to greet his father before he was tackled backward and almost fell over. It took him a moment to realize he was being squeezed to a pancake by his mother.

"Mom…can't breath…would like…to continue living," he wheezed.

Kairi pulled back with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry dear," she said, sniffling, "I'm just so glad to see you're okay. I was scared to death when you and your sister went missing."

Roxas smiled at her, and pulled his mom into another hug. Hikari was having a similar moment with her father. (A/N: say what you want, but Hikari is daddies little girl at heart.)

When Roxas was finally freed from his mother, Sora came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, a proud smile on his face.

"Roxas, I'm very proud of you. You and your friends were able to handle this faster and better than Riku and I. I know now, without a single doubt, that you'll be a better keyblade master than I ever was."

Roxas beamed; his old dream, to finally make a story and a legacy of his own, to not be overshadowed by his fathers every move, now seemed so close he could taste it. He'd created bonds over his own journey that he would hold onto for the rest of his life, and his skills were now at least triple what they were when he'd left. He had matured; he learned the value of hard work and the pain of loss, and he through everything, even in the face of darkness, he had stuck to his ideals; to protect his home and everyone he loved.

These facts were recognized by not only Sora and Roxas himself, but also by his mother, Hikari, and Riku. They could just tell by looking at him, that he was a new and better person than when this had begun.

Roxas sighed in relief as the fact that everything was finally over, but also in sadness at what a price it had cost. He looked past his parents and Hikari, over at the crater where the explosion that had nearly destroyed the town had take place. He could see his some of his friends and the Fateful in the distance as well.

He saw Naruto lugging Ichigo, who was having a little trouble walking, a few fragments of his mask still clinging to his face. Aang came into view as well, using his staff as a cane. Rhys and Julia were seen near the edge of the crater now as well, they seemed to be okay, but still worn out and weak. Matt was near them, his sword still burning brightly with its white flames, though his wings had receded.

Roxas decided to go meet up with his friends, and approached the quickly regrouping mass of people. As he closed in, the king, Donald, and Goofy, as well as the Radiant Garden crew made their way over as well; they were in similar states as everyone else.

As the brunette walked though, he noticed the distraught faces on many of them. It started with the Fateful, who instantly knew that someone was missing from their reformation, then slowly, Naruto, Ichigo, Matt, and Aang realized it as well; Rhys and Julia quickly followed suit. Roxas suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu, like he'd seen this picture somewhere before.

Then it hit him; his dream.

Just before they'd met Rhys and boarded the Boeotia, Roxas had been asleep in his room, and had a dream where he was back on Destiny Island, and everything was destroyed. He had seen everyone who would eventually take part in the battle, even those he hadn't at that point in time, met, like Ichigo and Aang.

He remembered seeing a lot of them looking sad, and other shocked, as they looked down at the crater. Everything had finally fallen into place; that dream had been a dream about the end of his journey, and Xelskyr's death.

Roxas looked around at everyone. Leon and the others had a saddened expression on their faces when they had been told what happened. Julia was holding Rhys, who was letting a few tears fall down his face; Roxas knew the two had been somewhat close friends.

Ichigo, Naruto, Matt, and Aang all looked depressed as well, but held it in with varying degrees of success. The king, Donald, and Goofy, who were now standing with Sora, Kairi, and Riku, looked sorrowfully at the crater, then at Roxas.

The Fateful had mixed reactions.

Xealx didn't even seem to want to think about the fact that his best friend was now gone from existence, and stood with a shocked and confused expression, something he'd never seen on the regularly stoic nobody. Aehxcilm was cussing his brains out, and Nevax looked on silently with a quiet look of sorrow. Ranxao was joining Aehxcilm in his cuss-fest, Hyrxs was sitting down and leaning against some rubble, quietly holding his head with both his hands, but Elkxyse was easily taking it the hardest.

She was on her hands and knees, her whole body shaking. Roxas swore she was crying, but wasn't even sure if that was possible for a nobody. Then again, the bonds of siblings were strong; maybe there were some emotions even nobodies couldn't escape from. Venxdi was having a similar reaction as Hyrxs, simply sitting and holding her head, and finally Rhcxis drove his staff into the ground and leaned his head against it, staring down at the ground.

Roxas couldn't help but feel depressed as he looked around; even in death, Kysrel managed to bring pain. He felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, looked back, and saw Hikari. She laid her head against his back and held him tightly; he put his hands over hers and sighed.

That was when he remembered something else about his dream, and quickly broke away from the embrace. He mumbled an apology to Hikari as he hobbled as fast as he could over to the edge of the crater. Just as in his dream, he could feel all eyes on him as he made it down the expanse of the crater, almost tumbling a few times due to his injuries.

Also just as in his dream, he saw that one glimmer of light, leading him down to a glowing object he knew to be a heart. With one last 'almost' tumble, be regained his footing right in front of the small, fragile, object.

For a moment he simply stared at it. This was all that was left. At first he thought it might be Kysrel's, but quickly dismissed it; he remembered feeling sadness when the heart disappeared. Kysrel would never and could never invoke such a reaction in him.

Looking closer though, he found that it was in fact Kysrel's, but it made no sense; this heart radiated with light, pure light. It confused him to no end; how could the most evil man in existence have a heart that radiated with Light?

It took him a moment, but eventually he realized, this wasn't Kysrel's heart anymore. He'd felt that light somewhere before, it was weak and fleeting, but there was only one person who had that distinct feel. This was the light that Xelskyr had within him, and after all this time, after all these years, it had finally found its way home.

What he held in his hands was something to behold; the last legacy of his friend, the one who gave his life so everyone and everything could continue to live. So with a heavy heart, he watched as the last piece of Xelskyr that would ever touch the earth, slowly faded out of existence.

After only a few seconds, it was gone. Just like that...it was gone. That was it, his friend was gone forever, and even though he was a nobody, he couldn't think of anyone who could replace him; despite what he said about himself, Xelskyr was just as unique as any human he'd ever met. Roxas wasn't exactly sure what fell over him at that moment, all he knew was that he was expecting it, but at that moment, he couldn't help but feel sad. He'd lost the only other person on the universe other than Hikari who he dared call a best friend...a brother.

Tears slowly leaked out of his eyes and to the ground as he fell to his knees and stared down at the ground. He felt a slight breeze kiss the side of his face, which the made the area just under his eyes run cold. He watched a bit of dirt be blown to the soft winds.

He was brought out of his stupor though, when he heard a sharp snap of the fingers, and the dirt that had just a moment ago been rolling, stood still.

"So, since when is crying your style?" said a familiar voice.

Roxas whipped his head up at lightning speed, and sure enough, he saw the one whom he thought dead, Xelskyr, standing right in front of him. His wounds were gone, his Fateful cloak was restored, and he had his same old sarcastic smirk on his face. There were a few things different though, one being he was slightly transparent, and the other being he had an odd green aura all around him.

"Before ya start bombarding me with questions, let me get a few things out of the way to save some time. First, yes, I'm still dead; sorry kid, but that's the rules of nature and all. Second, yes, everything with Kingdom Hearts is fine, after Kysrel's keyblade was destroyed, all the energy went back where it was belonged and his influence was removed; it's back to being locked up tight. Finally, no, no one else can see me, I stopped time for a bit so we could talk for a sec," he said, crossing his arms.

"Wha-what do you need?" asked Roxas, still not quite sure what he was seeing.

"It's not what I need, I'm just here to say a final farewell so to speak. First though, I need you to stand up."

Roxas raised a curious eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Just stand up, call them going away presents," he said, an honest grin on his face this time.

Roxas did as instructed and stood up straight, now only shorter than the nobody by an inch or two. Xelskyr backed up a bit and dug his feet into the ground, looking like he was getting into a fighting stance. Roxas got a little nervous when he pulled his right hand back and it began to glow in a bright light.

"What are you...?"

Roxas never got to finish his sentence, because while he was busy asking questions, Xelskyr thrust his hand forward, and flicked his index finger into Roxas' forehead at high speed. Roxas saw a large amount of dark energy fly off of him as he was knocked backwards a number of feet, just from that little flick. With that, Xelskyr stood straight again as Roxas regained his balance.

"So, how do you feel now?" the nobody asked.

Roxas rubbed the area where he'd been flicked, and tried to see if anything felt different. One thing he did notice was that he was now much lighter than before, like some invisible weight had been lifted.

"Xelskyr...did you suppress my darkness?" asked Roxas in wonder.

"Heh, just a little trick I picked up, becoming one with Kingdom Hearts has its perks ya know."

Roxas couldn't help but smile, he felt better than he had in what seemed like an eternity.

"There's a small catch to this though," said Xelskyr in a more serious tone.

"I couldn't do anything about Oathbreaker, it's still technically a dark keyblade, and since I've locked away all that dark energy, you won't be able to summon it anymore."

Roxas' expression changed from joyous to crestfallen in a mere second, but Xelskyr just put a hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"Hey, don't worry about it; I found a little loophole."

Now his expression brightened considerably, waiting to hear his "loophole". Xelskyr held out his hand, and after a bright flash, his golden keyblade was in his grasp, completely reformed and in perfect condition once more. Roxas looked at him in confusion until the nobody flipped the blade around, holding it by its blade, and putting the hilt in front of Roxas.

"I won't be needing it where I'm going, so take it."

For what seemed like the hundredth time today, Roxas stared down speechless.

"A-are you sure, I mean, it's your _keyblade_!?"

He seemed unfazed by his protests.

"Don't worry, I told you, I don't need it and you do, so shut up and take it already."

Roxas stared down at the blade, the it shined in the suns light. He looked back up at Xelskyr and smiled.

"I'll take it...on one condition."

Now it was Xelskyr's turn to be confused.

"What is it?"

"I want to know its name, it's true name. In all the time we've know each other, you never mentioned its name, and I'd like to know if I'm going to wield it."

The nobody sighed, but nodded.

"Back when it was just me and Xealx against Kysrel, I wanted my keyblade to contrast his in as many ways as possible, including its name. His was obviously named the Dark Corruption, so I chose to call mine by the opposite of that. That keyblades name is The Purifying Light," he said, something along the lines of pride seeping into his voice.

Roxas smiled again and then grabbed the keyblades hilt, holding it in his hand. He marveled at how similar it felt so Oathkeeper, yet so different at the same time. Once he was satisfied, he dispelled it, and looked back at Xelskyr.

"Thank you so much Xelskyr, for everything."

Again, the nobody seemed unfazed, but still smiled.

"Yeah well, somebody had to do it, might as well have been me. Anyway, I think I've overspent my welcome in this existence, and from the looks of things, you've got some busy days ahead of you, so I'll be goin'," he said as he turned and walked away.

"Don't think that just because I'm gone, I won't be watching you. I'll keep track of every screw up you make, so when you finally get over here to the other side, I'll have some ammo. 'Till then though, get stronger and do your best; I can't babysit you anymore, so everything from here on out...is your show now."

With that, Xelskyr gave him a quick wave before fading away, back to Kingdom Hearts, leaving Roxas alone in the crater. The teen was about to turn to leave when he heard Xelskyr's disembodied voice give him one last message.

"_Oh yeah, and Roxas, if it isn't too much trouble, I'd like one little favor from ya. When you and Hikari finally have a little brat of your own, would ya mind naming it after me if it's a boy?_ _Heh, just a thought, had a nice ring in my head. Seein' as you're named after a nobody, I didn't think you'd mind. Just don't go havin' one for a while yet, cuz remember, I'll be watchin' ya," _he said, finishing with a laugh before his voice faded as well.

Roxas smirked and looked up at the sky as time started moving again, the sun was shining much brighter, and things didn't seem quite as bad as they had a few minutes ago.

"Man, death can't even stop him from getting on my nerves," Roxas muttered as he climbed out of the crater, and back up to everyone.

One he finished his climb and dusted himself off, he was met by his parents, Riku, and Hikari. Sora spoke up first.

"Are you going to be alright son?"

Roxas looked back up at the sky for a moment, then heard another familiar voice ring out from his right.

"ROXAS!"

He looked over and saw a little auburn haired rocket pounce on him and completely knock him over. When he regained his sense, he looked down and saw Namine latched onto him like a vice, and smiled. Iroh, Kisuke, Jiraiya, Axel, and Tevesix had finally returned from the off shore island that Axel had taken Namine to so she'd stay out of the fighting. Iroh joined Aang, Kisuke with Ichigo and Matt, Jiraiya with Naruto, Axel with his parents, and Tevesix with the Fateful, obviously already fully aware of what had already occurred.

Roxas took a deep breath and sighed contently, looking around at his family and his friends. They still seemed upset, and that was understandable, but tomorrow would be a new day, and they would have a lot of work to do to repair all the damages. For now, things were finally peaceful again, and for that, Roxas was glad.

"Yeah dad...I think I'll be fine."

**

* * *

**

**5 months later**

It had now been a complete year since Roxas had first left on his insane journey with Xelskyr. Now, five months after their final confrontation with Kysrel, things had returned to relative normalcy.

Thanks to help from the crew of the Boeotia, the Fateful, the Radiant Garden committee, and all Roxas' friends, the repairs moved much faster than anyone predicted. Much of the town was rebuilt, but signs of the battle were still obvious and noticeable. Parts of the town still laid in relative ruin, and the crater that had been created Kysrel's explosion was still not completely repaired. The crater itself had been filled with concrete but the square was now under construction, and wouldn't be finished any time soon.

All his friends had already gone back to their respective homes. Axel had been recalled by Tevesix soon after the battle, but was allowed to stay long enough to converse with Sora and Kairi for a little while, just to catch up with his old "friends". His stay was short, but Roxas enjoyed it, he'd always thought Axel was a cool guy, and their sparring matches had always been fun and helpful.

Naruto and Jiraiya were the first to actually leave the island, something about being late as it was to get back home. Roxas understood and saw them off, though the silver haired hermit didn't escape their fair island without his share of bruises, mostly dealt by Riku when he accidentally stumbled across Hikari's new collection of books. The high pitched screams of the great toad sage could be heard through to the late hours of that night.

Ichigo, Kisuke, and Matt left soon after, saying they had to get back to school and work. Ichigo thanked him for stopping his one-time friend, and welcomed him to Karakura town any time. Matt had challenged him to a spar with him and his friend Nathan if he ever had the chance to drop by, and Kisuke also bid him farewell, taking a few samples of his personal stash of Potions and Elixirs out of scientific curiosity.

Iroh and Aang both had duties to tend to as well, but thanked them for their hospitality while they were there. Roxas apologized for the circumstances under which they first met, which the bald monk quickly accepted and told him it was the most fun he'd had in a while. Roxas and Hikari both thanked Iroh for the advice he'd given them. He told them it was nothing, and that he was glad to help, also that he was glad that the two of them had decided to give each other a go, to which the two teens blushed profusely.

Later on, the Radiant Garden crew left. They all said their goodbyes as familiar family friends. Roxas personally thanked Cloud for revealing the secret behind the Omni-slash, telling him that it had served him well on multiple occasions, and even saved his life once. The blond smirked and patted Roxas' shoulder before leaving with the rest of his group.

Finally, the Fateful and the crew of the Boeotia were the last to leave. The Fateful would travel with Rhys and Julia for a while until they found a world that suited them so they could set up another base. Rhys and Julia would continue their efforts to find an uninhabited world for all of the left-over refugees to finally call home. Roxas' stated that his offer to help still stood to which they both smiled, but declined, telling him to worry about himself for now, he deserved some peace and quiet for a while.

Before they left, Xealx gave him a hand held long-range communicator beacon, saying that if they ever need his help, or if he ever need their help again, they could contact each other through use of that. Roxas nodded and waved as the ship departed into the clouds before zooming into hyperspace, out of sight.

So now Roxas sat on the deformed palm tree of Paupu Island, Namine in his lap, and Hikari leaning near the base, as they always used to. Roxas was so happy when he saw that their favorite childhood hang-out hadn't been damaged. He felt another sense of deja vu wash over him, remembering that this was how everything started to begin with.

"Kind of feels weird being back here, huh," said Roxas.

"Yeah, after fighting for so long, the quiet is...odd," she agreed.

Roxas hugged Namine closer and sighed contently.

"Oh well, at least we're back right? Kysrel is gone, and everyone is off doing their own thing again, so I guess we can kick back for a while."

Hikari nodded.

"Yeah, but schools gonna be weird. Everyone going to be asking questions, and based on the gossip and rumors I've been overhearing, we've got ourselves quite a fan-club," she mused.

Roxas smirked.

"Jealous are we? Worried I might run off and sweep some _other_ girl completely off her feet like I did to a certain sliver haired keyblade master I know?" he said slyly.

Hikari scoffed and looked away with an annoyed expression on her face.

"You did not 'sweep me off my feet', don't flatter yourself Roxas."

"Really now?"

"Yes really."

Roxas smirked again.

"Well then, I think a competition is in order. I propose a race, if I win, you admit that you were drawn to me thanks to my natural charm and good looks," he said, his smirk growing into a goofy smile.

Hikari smirked as well and went along with it.

"Fine, but if I win, I get to choose the next movie we go see, and the restaurant we eat at. I'm tired of us seeing nothing but action movies and then hitting a burger joint. We've done things ten times more exciting than in those movies, and those burgers suck," she said crossing her arms.

Roxas nodded.

"Fine then, I accept your terms."

With that, the two lined up at the bridge, Namine now on Roxas' back.

"Nami, countdown if you please!" said Roxas excitedly.

She obliged happily.

"3...2...1...GO!"

With that, the race began, and the two teens darted across the beach, each hoping to best each other, and laughing along the way, glad to finally,after all their work, have some peace.

**

* * *

And that's all folks.**

L**et it be known that Fateful XIII is now officially done and over with, and I'll probably not be making a sequel...at all...I mean it.**

**On a different note though, I'd just like to take the time to thank all you wonderful readers out there who read this story. A lot of you who are reading this have been with me for quite a while, some of you even as far back as the beginning, seeing as this is the first story I ever wrote. I just wanted to thank you all for taking a chance with this story and I hope, despite some kinks and setbacks, you enjoyed the experience.**

**Without you guys, I wouldn't be half as motivated as I am, (which I know doesn't sound like a lot considering my track record for updates, but still), so truly and honestly you guys, I just want to say that I appreciate each an every one of you. Whether you reviewed or favorited doesn't really matter to me, you simply reading the story was enough thanks.**

**The Fateful XIII, Roxas, Hikari, they were all great characters in my opinion, and it was a pleasure writing about them, and an adventure in itself coming up with the plot, which believe it or not, was not even pre-planned, I made it all up as I went along. Even this ending was completley a, "spur of the moment", thing. As for the Fateful XIII, this is goodbye for now, but who knows what the future holds, I may someday dig it back up and come up with something new and fresh for all you old fans, but for now, say your final farewells.  
**

**For the last and final installment of Fateful XIII, this is Xelskyr, thanking you for your time, and wishing you all happy reading.  
**


End file.
